HoM: You're Red Sonja In Another Life?

February 23, 2018:

HoM: Illyana (SHIELD cadet) brings Rachel (Lady-in-waiting to the Princess Royal of the UK) to Genosha to catch up with her brother, Nate (unemployed student)

Nate's apartment, Hammer Bay

A typical student apartment.

Characters

NPCs: None.

Mentions:

Plot:

Mood Music: None.


Fade In…

Hammer Bay, Genosha. Late afternoon, with the rays of the setting sun glittering from the surface of the sea and casting long shadows across the university campus and the accommodation buildings that surround it.

Those rays slant through the windows of a typical student apartment in one of those buildings, shining brightly in the face of anyone who should come through the door, while leaving most of the interior cloaked in shadow. The apartment's current tenant is out, so the place should be empty.

But it isn't.

Depending on how observant Nate's being when he returns to his domicile, he might notice two not unfamiliar minds close by. Or the first clue he might get that something's amiss could be the pair of SHIELD-issue boots that are in prime position for him to trip over, just inside the door.

Or it could even be the blonde owner of those boots, lying full length on his couch with her feet propped up on the arm, craning her head around to glance at the redhead who's also lying in wait and saying, "It'll be just our luck that he's skipped him last lecture and gone drinking." She wrinkles her nose. "Students." As if she wasn't barely older than the student in question herself.


The truth is Nate would have fallen by the dirty boot trick any other time.
But he is not feeling himself lately. He actually did a quick telepathic scan. Of course Illyana has the keys of his apartment, not that doors would stop her. And the other mind… woah!

The young man doesn't use keys, the door opens telekinetically, and he kicks the boots out of the way. "I did skip the whole day, blondie." He remarks. I am just back from New York," beat, "missed me?" Because he is looking at the other woman in the apartment, not to Illyana. A stupid grin in his face.


Ah, Genosha. For the red-head in question, one Rachel Summers, she's not visited many places these past few years, outside of her adventures with her royal employers at least. Her time has been spent being the hand maiden, the maid, the companion, the friend, and sometimes the bodyguard of the sister to England's royal line. And she's enjoyed every minute of it. It's difficult work! But Rachel adores England, she loves the adventures, and frankly; wouldn't change it for anything.

Except when she decides that she's spent a little too long away from family and friends in the States - or at least, where ever they are located now. So it was Rachel that asked an old friend in Illyana to take her to visit Nate, and maybe Scott and others too - eventually. It's been too many years since Rachel's said anything other than in texts or on the telephone.

As Illyana lounges on the sofa, Rachel has taken to seating herself in the window frame. Both hands are planted on each side of her, feet propped up on the wall, and where balance fails, telekinesis takes over.

A twinkle of amusement is in her emerald eyes as Rachel turns her attention away from the window and towards Illyana. She doesn't get time to respond, however, as Nate enters and his words are directed more at her, than Illyana. "Hell yeah, little brother. Surprise?" A wry grin remains upon Rachel's features.


Illyana shifts her attention back to the door as she hears it unlock, watching hopefully… and is disappointed when Nate doesn't fall for her rudimentary trap. Maybe she underestimated him for once. There will be other opportunities.

Lacing her fingers behind her head, she crosses one foot over the other and directs a grin toward Nate. "Not even a little bit." She tells him, cheerfully, even though he wasn't looking at her, but once she's made that very necessary jab she shuts up and lets the siblings have their moment.


"Ray!" Nate looks surprised, yes, pleasantly surprised. "I had no idea you would come to Genosha," he closes to the redhead quickly for a hug. "So great to see you. You gotta tell me your latest adventures, maybe over dinner? How long are you staying?"

Releasing the older girl, he moves his attention to the blonde on the couch. "Thanks for bringing her. You are lucky to catch me here, I was away…" he loses his smile, because the reasons he left are hard to pin down. He has nothing to complain, just a vague sense of wrongness.

But all looks fine. For a guy that just flew all the way from New York in less than two hours Nate looks just 'stylishly' disheveled. He slides to Illyana's couch and lifts her head for a second, just place it gently on a cushion and the cushion on his lap. "SHIELD cadets, they think they own the whole island," he mock-complains to Rachel.


Pulling herself away from the wall to offer Nate the warmth of an embrace, which is just not at ALL British, but well, damn their sensibilities right now, anyway. Rachel's smile is wide, though it fades just a little as she catches Nate's vague sense of wrongness. Her brows furrow slightly, mouth pursed downward, as her gaze follows Nate to the sofa. "I have a few days off." She begins, drawing to the sofa as well, there to perch on the edge of it, watching as Nate goes and man handles Illyana.

A slight, vague sense of disquiet twinges against Rachel at that. It seems — wrong, and she's just not sure why right now. Dismissing it with a shake of her head, Rachel snorts, drawing upon her sense of humor to replace the tickle of annoyance.

"Well, if they do own the entire island, surely a trip of sight seeing and clubbing can be achieved easier?" Rachel's nose wrinkles upwards, "The British are ever so dreadfully dull when it comes to anything that remotely resembles being shall we say, wild?"


"What else was I going to do? Make her fly all the way here first class on the British monarchy's tab? Who'd want to do THAT?" Illyana asks in a mock-serious tone. She seems to be in a good mood, although some of that fades when Nate trails off into silence for a moment there. "Away?" She prompts, then rolls her eyes when he doesn't seem inclined to answer. "Too many all-nighters, Nate. You're too young to be killing brain cells."

As he approaches, Illyana gets an inkling of what's about to happen, and fixes her eyes on his, sending him a flat, level look not to disturb her comfortable annexation of his couch. Of course, it doesn't work. "I wish." She says, dryly, from where she's been placed. "I'd commandeer this couch for a start." Just to be contrary, she sits up and swivels around so that she can rest her back against the arm of the couch, and burrows her feet into the cushions underneath Nate.

"I might have to leave you at Nate's mercy for some of that, Ray." Illyana says with a tone of genuine regret in her voice, idly fixing her hair from where lying down had disarrayed it. "My instructors aren't done with me. They only gave me some time off because they're still trying to figure out what that…" She waves a hand to the silver longsword propped up beside Nate's door, "Has to do with me."


"You can't come to Genosha looking for 'wild' or even fun," notes Nate, "seriously, I think about half the population of Hammer Bay works for SHIELD, the Red Guard or… oh!" Illyana is here. They could jump to some really good hot spot. Maybe Mexico City, or Madripoor.

But no. She is busy. "You are always busy lately, Illy," comments the young man, frowning faintly. Heleft like 20 messages in her cell the last week. None this week, though, because it suddenly felt strange (wrong).

His eyes wander in the general direction of the waving hand and land on the sword. He blinks slowly, paling visibly. "The hell…" he mutters, trying to grasps some fleeting thoughts. It is like trying to remember a dream several days old, they slip even through his telepathic dredge. "… is that?"


Casting a glance towards the mentioned silver sword propped up so interestingly next to Nate's door, Rachel offers a helpful, "You're Red Sonja in another life?" Though she pauses at that, and furrows her brows. "And just decided to be a blonde instead of a red-head? Though why on -Earth- you'd rather be a blonde is beyond me."

With a defeated sigh, Rachel runs fingers through the short curls around her head. "Well, I guess just visiting Nate will have to do, then. If we're unable to do anything exciting, wrong, wild, and - or - wrong." Hopping off the arm of the sofa, Rachel draws towards the sword, glancing (but not touching) at it curiously. That twinge and tingle that something is off sends a shiver down Rachel's spine, but she dismisses it due to time zone changes, and just due to the general suspicious nature she has.

"So what other exciting things have happened since I've been galavanting about with British Royalty?" Rachel inquires, arms crossing over chest, as she lifts both legs up, sitting 'Yoga/Indian' style in mid-air, watching Nate and Illyana curiously. "It feels like I hardly know you both, anymore."


Illyana rolls her eyes - it feels like she's doing that a lot around Nate, just lately - and extracts one of her feet from the couch cushions to jab him in the side with it. "I have a JOB, Nate." She tells him in an aggrieved tone, but there's a teasing light in her eyes as she says it. "Unlike you, you student bum." She grins, and gives him another light jab in the kidneys with her foot for emphasis.

Snorting back a laugh at Rachel's comment about her new sword, Illyana manages to miss Nate's reaction to the sight of the blade. Swinging her legs off the couch, Illyana pads over to the sword in her socks and picks it up with a casual familiarity that might seem a little strange - mandatory longsword training not being a standard SHIELD course. Taking a two-handed grip on the hilt, she strikes a dramatic pose. "Maybe this life, too. It looks good on me." Illyana decides, with no sign of modesty whatsoever, and shakes her head sadly at Rachel. "Blondes have more fun, Ray. Don't be jealous." She rests the sword comfortably on her shoulder, and only then sees how pale Nate's gone. "Nate?" She asks, concerned. First he zones out mid-sentence, now this? "It's just a sword. SHIELD picked it up in another dimension. It's not dangerous." She frowns as she hears herself say that. "Except in the normal way that sharp pointy objects are dangerous. You know what I mean!"

Giving Nate a last, still slightly worried look at his odd behaviour, Illyana picks up the thread of the conversation with Rachel again. "Gallivanting around with royalty and you expect us to have stories to tell?" She asks, heavy on the irony. "Well…" She begins, then frowns. Putting the sword hurriedly aside, she holds up a hand for quiet and raises the other to her ear. "Rasputin… Now? But? No. No, understood." She glances between Nate and Rachel and offers an apologetic shrug. "Duty - or more likely another test - calls. Try not to have too much fun without me!" She hurriedly pulls on her boots, retrieves the sword, and with a flash of light she's gone.


Nate pretty much ignores Illyana's jabbing, his eyes narrowed into slits. Only the blonde happy sword-posing drags him out of his brief trance, and back to smirking. He lets his breath go and stands up. "Well… they gave you a sword from other dimension to carry around? C'mon, there is a story there so…"

A call? He glances to through the window to the Magnus palace, towering over the city. Then back to Illyana. He knows how it goes. She is one of the most powerful teleporters of the world, so he powers are in high demand. "Read your damn messages," he vocalizes, poking his own cell. "I'll take Ray to for dinner to a nice place, so maybe you can join us later."

If they are lucky. He definitely feels like drinking heavily tonight. But not with his older sister! Madripoor *was* a nice idea.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License