Illyana; Illyana and Jennie

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Not everything is as simple as passing physics. Illyana and Jennie meet in the library.


January, 2007

She fell into a battlefield.

Literally.

Momentarily disoriented, she blinked hard, watching what seemed to be a thousand skirmishes from where she stood to the foothills in the horizon. Her mouth dropped, but before she could utter so much as a, “What the hell?”, a sharp movement caught her eye; suddenly she was dodging a battle-axe, and harsh light laying waste to the owner of the axe.

She took a moment to glance around. She’d seen the demon in the corner before: He’d called himself a loyalist. Sometimes, demon culture didn’t bear thinking about, but he was all she had now, for all that was worth. “What’s going on?” she asked briefly, pleased that she could at least control the tremor in her voice.

The demon didn’t have time to speak before she felt a hard, gut-wrenching pull somewhere in her midsection. Her mind automatically worked down the power-centres and pools, blocking whatever it was - no. Not whatever. Him. She’d been here almost every day, dealing with what she’d considered a ridiculous uprising - missing class, letting things slide, avoiding her RAs and her teacher and everyone, basically - and she was damned if she knew how she’d missed the buildup to what was, unequivocally, a war.

When she hit a block - someplace she didn’t control, a small part of her world that wasn’t hers any more - she didn’t need to hear what came next. “It is serious,” a small voice hissed from the corner of the room. “Our numbers dwindle.”

The shrill clash of metal on metal warred with the cries of battle, making things loud, disorganized, chaotic. It had been a war of words, before. The demon N’Astirh and his little army, making things difficult - something that was necessary to deal with, but overall not much of a threat. Just business as usual. Maybe she’d worried a little bit; been annoyed, absolutely. Hadn’t she spent the time? Worked - actually worked - at fading into the background, as unnoticed as possible?

Things were - different. She’d been arrogant. She’d thought it might be serious, sure - but not a serious threat.

It struck her with frightening clarity that she might well lose this. And if that happened - then her English homework probably wouldn’t carry the same importance.

Books lay open on every spare surface of the small table she'd commandeered at the back of the library - some, centrally-located, held open by others, and some clearly relegated to the side, deemed unimportant for the moment. The blonde poring over them raked her hands through her messy hair, tying it back into a kind of pony-tail, and sat back, looking frustrated.

The book that Jennie searched for was somewhere near the back, as an almost-gradute and having acquired good study habits, Jennie no longer waited until the night before the test to read the book for English. No, now she looked for it at least a whole afternoon before. Had to get those study skills for college.

Jennie passed in-between two rows of shelves quickly, only to back up and stare at the occupant of the small table.

"Illyana?"

Illyana glanced up sharply, surprised, but her expression relaxed a fraction at seeing the other girl, and if she noticed the stare, she didn't react to it at all. She looked tired: Dark circles beneath her eyes, the product of a sleepless night, stood out against her pale skin. "Oh, hi, Jennie," she said, sounding relieved; someone she could deal with, at least.

"Hey stranger," Jennie said, stuffing her hands in her back pockets and rocking back on her heels. She had barely seen the younger girl all year, and had on more than one occasion missed her barbed comments on the journals. The state that Illyana was in did not go unnoticed, however. "Catching up on some things?" Jennie peered curiously at the volumes of material surrounding her.

The books were physics: Some more advanced than others, some there merely so she'd have a shot at understanding the advanced ones. Some pages were circled in light pencil, and she picked up the notebook in her lap. "Yeah," she said, with a weary half-smile, "apparently I lack the necessary secondary mutation to absorb physics via osmosis. Hence the mess. I've been getting a bit behind. And you?"

Jennie tilted her head. Was Illyana even in physics? "Um, I've been all right, I guess," Compared to the hideous mess she'd been Saturday anyway. To assauge some of her guilt at what she had said to Marius, she'd at least made his bed for him. Hospital corners and her pillow trick and everything, the four seasons couldn't do better. Jennie tried to think of a casual way of saying 'So, where have you been?' and failed utterly.

"So, haven't seen you around lately."

Illyana blinked, then smiled a little wryly, as though to herself. "Oh, well. You know. I've been kind of – distracted, I guess. What with Kitty moving and everything. I've been, um, out a lot more." She gestured at the table. "Which I'm told is not conducive to the high school experience."

"Out," Jennie said, nodding. Right, since Illyana didn't have a driver's license, nor did she socialize much, so that limited the ammount of "outs" there could be. But Jennie was not the type to pry.

"Yeah, they have this thing about you going to class. It's kinda stupid," she waved her own copy of 'Things Falls Apart' for emphasis. "Like, I'm supposed to have a test on this thing day after tomorrow, and I guess I should finally read it."

Illyana made a somewhat sympathetic face. "Yeah, they've got this weird rule about it," she agreed, trying to remember if she was in any of Jennie's classes – no, she thought she was a year behind. More or less. More 'more' than 'less'. "I've found that they definitely frown on cross-continental skipping."

"Yeeeeah, funny that." Jennie said, thinking back to last summer's 'misadventure.' "So, physics, the decidedly unscary science because it involves math. Anything I can help with?"

That would be less than helpful – it occurred to her that Jennie might even be able to crack the physics of this whole disaster, but that would involve telling her about the mess and that would lead to a situation she just couldn't control. "No, thanks. Not that I don't appreciate the offer, but I think I'll be okay. Despite what it looks like." She smiled, hoping it wouldn't look as awkward and unfamiliar as it felt.

Jennie smothered her own grin, as Illyana smiling was something of an oxymoron and quite possibly would frighten some of the other mansion residents. She tapped the novel in her hand on her palm and shrugged again. "Well, just so you know, certified math genius here. Anything you need, let me know?"

"Yeah, I will. Thanks." Illyana nodded, picking at a loose thread on the edge of her t-shirt, and shrugged. "I mean, not that I don't appreciate the offer of genius, but I've always felt it's a little sad having one explain things to you when you can read the textbook. Which I'm finding is actually fairly – explanatory."

"Yes, but I am one of those people who like to cheat, as often as possible. Not in the real cheating sort of way, but more in the 'if I can get someone to explain this better and quicker than the textbook then I am so running with this'" Jennie waved the novel, "Unfortunately cheating with cliff's notes is out here, so I must go play catch-up."

"Cliff's notes – oh, those summary books, right." Illyana nodded, reminded of a semester spent trying to untangle Arthur Miller – that had been before all this. Before she'd spent two straight days wishing she had Kitty's prodigious knowledge of all things scientific. "Well, good luck with it. And thanks, again."

Jennie nodded, she knew a dismissal when she heard one. "Yeah, you too, with your physics stuff."

"Right." Illyana's attention was drawn back to the books almost instantly, and, not being one for social graces in the first place, she fell silent.