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xp_logsIllyana is trying to download a stupid game onto her laptop. She's having trouble so she goes to ask her brother for help. He does, but then things boil over a touch.
Illyana poked at her laptop in frustration. She was much better with tech now than she’d been the first time she arrived at the mansion, but there were still plenty of times where she got stuck and frustrated on something, and few people at this place she was willing to actually ask for help.
This led to her swanning into her brother’s suite and plopping down on the couch, getting a lapful of enthusiastic dog. “Brother, I need you to teach me stupid computer thing,” she said with a frown, rubbing Boris’ soft ears.
Pyotr emerged from his suite with a fairly startled look. "Good morning, snowflake." he said with a jaw-cracking yawn. "What's wrong with your laptop?" he asked. "I am no expert but I can usually make mine behave when I need to." he commented as he sat down on the couch, on the side away from where his sister had parked herself.
“Laptop is fine, I know how to use the googles for getting around, but I want to see dumb game everyone is talking about and cannot make it download.” She opened it back up, the detailed characters on the site spinning and an embedded video showing off the gameplay. She turned it towards Pyotr, letting him balance it while she continued to lavish Boris with attention. “You are better than dumb internet, yes you are,” she cooed at the small dog, getting a happy bark and a wet swipe of tongue against her hand for her compliments.
Pyotr looked at her laptop and, despite himself, frowned. He was, to put it mildly, not a fan of the art style on display. "Hrm" he said, poking around here and there. "Let us see if we can get it to fail." he said, mostly musing to himself, as he tried to initiate the download she wanted. "Boris is best boy." he commented with a quick glance up and a smile at his sister.
“Yes, is true. Think wards would let me bring hellhound? I want good dog, best protector in all realms.”
"At a guess? Probably not. Talk to Amanda or Topaz if you want to bring hellbeast into Mansion." he said absently as he waited for his download to either fail or succeed. "Have you considered normal dog instead? Can get a big one if you'd like."
Illyana wrinkled her nose at the idea of talking to Amanda. Absolutely not, if she could avoid it. She might be volunteered to stab the witch with Soulsword again. Topaz, though… well, she did still need to ask about where the magic library had been moved. And get access. “Hellhound would make magic stronger up here,” she said, brow furrowed. “Think so, at least. Good Hellhound is pretty tame compared to other animals in Limbo.”
"I'm sure." he said, poking at her laptop again. Ah, OK. That would explain why her download was not working the way she wanted it to. "Low on disk space. Is why download is failing. Need to get rid of some stuff." he said, holding her laptop back out to her. "But if you get normal dog, you can teach it to be fearless protector." he pointed out. "Almost literal underdog."
“How did I.. never mind, do not want to know, will have to check later.” She side-eyed him, quirking one eyebrow up. “You think I want to teach and train dog? No. Hellhound already knows how to protect. Just need permission to have here.”
He opened his mouth to offer a reasonable counter-argument, then after a moment closed it again. He reached over to pet Boris, who always appreciated the pets. "Doubt the others will be as excited as you to have hellbeast underfoot." he said after a moment. Like it mattered to her what he thought.
“They look scary, but not that much different from regular big dog. Less fur, different color. Still must eat and play and shit. Some can breathe fire, is big difference. But ones in Limbo are trained, would just have to let them know who is territory and who is enemy or caution. They are handling that Canadian guy’s wolf fine, do not understand why not Hellhound.”
Pyotr blinked at that - he'd been a little absent from the journals of late as he tried to complete some commissions. "Canadian guy - Gar - has wolf now? And is OK?" he said, surprised. "If wild animal is OK, why not Hellhound?" he said with a mix of amusement and disgust.
Illyana nodded. “Yes, got wolf during weird powers thing or something. Do not really pay attention to him except getting fuck out of way when he mentions missions or talks about Asgard and ladies with swords. It’s a lie we didn’t get to keep the cool Valkyrie chick am not falling for his tricks again.”
"I'll have to ask him about it when I see him next. The wolf, not … any of that other stuff." he said. "This place is odd sometimes." he said with the understatement of the century. "Alien power-swapping virus, wild animals as pets, Shenanigans." he said, using one of his favorite new English words.
She shrugged, actually leaning into his side for once. “We are mutants, weird is in that DNA stuff I had to learn about at school. Also there is a moose. Was moose? Do not know if moose is still here. Why do you think I left? Was too weird, even for weird chick from Limbo.”
"Overall, still believe in goal of X-Men." he said firmly. "Also, would hate to give up weight room for people like me. But … things get weird here sometimes." he said with resignation, but not before side-hugging his sister. He made a bet with himself on how long she'd tolerate it before trying to stab him. Boris, sensing his opportunity, tried to muscle past Illyana's laptop to claim its space as his own.
“Boris!” Illyana laughed as she moved her laptop out of the way, letting it close before setting it on the coffee table. “Little gremlin, you are trying to be next weird thing?” She poked at Pyotr’s arm. “No hugging, you are hot like Siberian bear in summer.”
Well, it was at least a finger-stab and not a stab-stab. He withdrew back to his side of the couch. "Know i will regret asking but how are things with you other than laptop issue?" he asked.
She shrugged. “Eh. Am fine. Bored.” A dangerous thing, bored Illyana. “Wake up, do portal shit, eat, sleep. Check on Limbo, make sure minions are behave. Boring.”
"Not necessarily a bad thing. Gives you time to relax some, maybe look around at the world, decide your place in it." he suggested blandly.
“If relax any more will become one with furniture,” she replied flatly. “Have even been considering taking Kyle up on more dumb school, but do not want… dumb career.” She gave an annoyed little shrug. “You?”
"Dumb career work. Working out, pushing my power to get stronger." he said with a shrug. She had no idea what it was to have to work for a living. None. "Relaxing when I can."
“Be careful not to get so strong floor breaks when walking,” Illyana teased. “Otherwise sounds boring. You need hobby.”
"I have a hobby. It's related to what I do to make money." he said. "And other hobby is related to power development. Kinda." he said. "I'm getting into calligraphy. Tricky in English, much easier in Cyrillic." he said with a smile. "Other hobby is sambo. Combat arts." he said. "To you, naturally, I am lame and boring and should crawl into a hole out of sight." he said with a sigh. He was being bitchier than he intended, it was true, but he wasn't lying. Sometimes it felt like that with her.
“You are being asshole.” She disrupted Boris’ nap by flinging herself to the other end of the couch, giving Pyotr a baleful stare as she wrapped her arms around her knees. “Painting is career. Is hobby, but is mostly work. Getting stronger is work for X-Man. Is hobby, but also work. If want to wake up every day, do same thing, sleep, repeat, then why did you leave farm? Is boring.” Repetitive. The idea of a flat routine like that made her brain shriek. “Did I say should crawl into hole? Be out of sight? No, said you need hobby. Thing that is only for fun. Do not put words in mouth.”
"What you consider boring and what I consider boring are different things." he pointed out calmly. "I like drawing letters. Not for sale, just because they are beautiful. Sambo makes me feel good, give sense of accomplishment. I did better than I did before, took foe down quicker. Challenge." he said. "But since you know everything, what should I do for fun, then, hrm?" he asked.
“Clearly hobby is being best at asshole,” she snapped, getting to her feet and grabbing her laptop, stomping to the door and slamming it shut behind her. Caring was stupid. Siblings were stupid. She wasn’t quite sure why she was even trying, when what she said was taken as meanness and not ever as attempting to make a connection the only way she knew how.
Pyotr sighed and got to his feet, opening his door and sticking his head out to watch her go. "That's what I thought." he said in Russian. "Dammit, Illyana, you tell me constantly how embarrassed you are of me!" he said at her retreating back. "That hurts." he said, in the same language, but to himself and not her.
Great job, Pyotr. Piss off a third of the only family you have left. All because she takes great delight in belittling you.
Illyana glared at him over her shoulder as she stopped, shouting back in Russian. “All sibling are embarrassment, is point of having sibling!” Her view was admittedly skewed, with much of her understanding of how siblings should behave being American television shows she’d watched her first time at the mansion. Also Pyotr was a sap that wore emotions on his face, and she’d been raised in an environment that might have literally eaten her alive had she not learned to stuff it down and cover it up. Trying to mesh his happy, rainbows and sunshine optimism with her own pessimistic attitude and ruthlessness was like smashing two rituals with similar outcomes but different styles and languages together. Sometimes it worked - mostly, grudgingly, a little awkwardly. But other times it literally blew up.
He just took another deep, slow breath and then released it. "Is NOT point of having sibling!" he said back, then shook his head. "Is no point trying to explain this." he said sadly, then looked for a long moment at his sister. Maybe the others were right - Limbo destroyed his sister, leaving behind a ruthless harsh woman wearing her adult face. He looked at her once more, then stepped back into his room to close the door.
He really should have just given her what she wanted.
Illyana poked at her laptop in frustration. She was much better with tech now than she’d been the first time she arrived at the mansion, but there were still plenty of times where she got stuck and frustrated on something, and few people at this place she was willing to actually ask for help.
This led to her swanning into her brother’s suite and plopping down on the couch, getting a lapful of enthusiastic dog. “Brother, I need you to teach me stupid computer thing,” she said with a frown, rubbing Boris’ soft ears.
Pyotr emerged from his suite with a fairly startled look. "Good morning, snowflake." he said with a jaw-cracking yawn. "What's wrong with your laptop?" he asked. "I am no expert but I can usually make mine behave when I need to." he commented as he sat down on the couch, on the side away from where his sister had parked herself.
“Laptop is fine, I know how to use the googles for getting around, but I want to see dumb game everyone is talking about and cannot make it download.” She opened it back up, the detailed characters on the site spinning and an embedded video showing off the gameplay. She turned it towards Pyotr, letting him balance it while she continued to lavish Boris with attention. “You are better than dumb internet, yes you are,” she cooed at the small dog, getting a happy bark and a wet swipe of tongue against her hand for her compliments.
Pyotr looked at her laptop and, despite himself, frowned. He was, to put it mildly, not a fan of the art style on display. "Hrm" he said, poking around here and there. "Let us see if we can get it to fail." he said, mostly musing to himself, as he tried to initiate the download she wanted. "Boris is best boy." he commented with a quick glance up and a smile at his sister.
“Yes, is true. Think wards would let me bring hellhound? I want good dog, best protector in all realms.”
"At a guess? Probably not. Talk to Amanda or Topaz if you want to bring hellbeast into Mansion." he said absently as he waited for his download to either fail or succeed. "Have you considered normal dog instead? Can get a big one if you'd like."
Illyana wrinkled her nose at the idea of talking to Amanda. Absolutely not, if she could avoid it. She might be volunteered to stab the witch with Soulsword again. Topaz, though… well, she did still need to ask about where the magic library had been moved. And get access. “Hellhound would make magic stronger up here,” she said, brow furrowed. “Think so, at least. Good Hellhound is pretty tame compared to other animals in Limbo.”
"I'm sure." he said, poking at her laptop again. Ah, OK. That would explain why her download was not working the way she wanted it to. "Low on disk space. Is why download is failing. Need to get rid of some stuff." he said, holding her laptop back out to her. "But if you get normal dog, you can teach it to be fearless protector." he pointed out. "Almost literal underdog."
“How did I.. never mind, do not want to know, will have to check later.” She side-eyed him, quirking one eyebrow up. “You think I want to teach and train dog? No. Hellhound already knows how to protect. Just need permission to have here.”
He opened his mouth to offer a reasonable counter-argument, then after a moment closed it again. He reached over to pet Boris, who always appreciated the pets. "Doubt the others will be as excited as you to have hellbeast underfoot." he said after a moment. Like it mattered to her what he thought.
“They look scary, but not that much different from regular big dog. Less fur, different color. Still must eat and play and shit. Some can breathe fire, is big difference. But ones in Limbo are trained, would just have to let them know who is territory and who is enemy or caution. They are handling that Canadian guy’s wolf fine, do not understand why not Hellhound.”
Pyotr blinked at that - he'd been a little absent from the journals of late as he tried to complete some commissions. "Canadian guy - Gar - has wolf now? And is OK?" he said, surprised. "If wild animal is OK, why not Hellhound?" he said with a mix of amusement and disgust.
Illyana nodded. “Yes, got wolf during weird powers thing or something. Do not really pay attention to him except getting fuck out of way when he mentions missions or talks about Asgard and ladies with swords. It’s a lie we didn’t get to keep the cool Valkyrie chick am not falling for his tricks again.”
"I'll have to ask him about it when I see him next. The wolf, not … any of that other stuff." he said. "This place is odd sometimes." he said with the understatement of the century. "Alien power-swapping virus, wild animals as pets, Shenanigans." he said, using one of his favorite new English words.
She shrugged, actually leaning into his side for once. “We are mutants, weird is in that DNA stuff I had to learn about at school. Also there is a moose. Was moose? Do not know if moose is still here. Why do you think I left? Was too weird, even for weird chick from Limbo.”
"Overall, still believe in goal of X-Men." he said firmly. "Also, would hate to give up weight room for people like me. But … things get weird here sometimes." he said with resignation, but not before side-hugging his sister. He made a bet with himself on how long she'd tolerate it before trying to stab him. Boris, sensing his opportunity, tried to muscle past Illyana's laptop to claim its space as his own.
“Boris!” Illyana laughed as she moved her laptop out of the way, letting it close before setting it on the coffee table. “Little gremlin, you are trying to be next weird thing?” She poked at Pyotr’s arm. “No hugging, you are hot like Siberian bear in summer.”
Well, it was at least a finger-stab and not a stab-stab. He withdrew back to his side of the couch. "Know i will regret asking but how are things with you other than laptop issue?" he asked.
She shrugged. “Eh. Am fine. Bored.” A dangerous thing, bored Illyana. “Wake up, do portal shit, eat, sleep. Check on Limbo, make sure minions are behave. Boring.”
"Not necessarily a bad thing. Gives you time to relax some, maybe look around at the world, decide your place in it." he suggested blandly.
“If relax any more will become one with furniture,” she replied flatly. “Have even been considering taking Kyle up on more dumb school, but do not want… dumb career.” She gave an annoyed little shrug. “You?”
"Dumb career work. Working out, pushing my power to get stronger." he said with a shrug. She had no idea what it was to have to work for a living. None. "Relaxing when I can."
“Be careful not to get so strong floor breaks when walking,” Illyana teased. “Otherwise sounds boring. You need hobby.”
"I have a hobby. It's related to what I do to make money." he said. "And other hobby is related to power development. Kinda." he said. "I'm getting into calligraphy. Tricky in English, much easier in Cyrillic." he said with a smile. "Other hobby is sambo. Combat arts." he said. "To you, naturally, I am lame and boring and should crawl into a hole out of sight." he said with a sigh. He was being bitchier than he intended, it was true, but he wasn't lying. Sometimes it felt like that with her.
“You are being asshole.” She disrupted Boris’ nap by flinging herself to the other end of the couch, giving Pyotr a baleful stare as she wrapped her arms around her knees. “Painting is career. Is hobby, but is mostly work. Getting stronger is work for X-Man. Is hobby, but also work. If want to wake up every day, do same thing, sleep, repeat, then why did you leave farm? Is boring.” Repetitive. The idea of a flat routine like that made her brain shriek. “Did I say should crawl into hole? Be out of sight? No, said you need hobby. Thing that is only for fun. Do not put words in mouth.”
"What you consider boring and what I consider boring are different things." he pointed out calmly. "I like drawing letters. Not for sale, just because they are beautiful. Sambo makes me feel good, give sense of accomplishment. I did better than I did before, took foe down quicker. Challenge." he said. "But since you know everything, what should I do for fun, then, hrm?" he asked.
“Clearly hobby is being best at asshole,” she snapped, getting to her feet and grabbing her laptop, stomping to the door and slamming it shut behind her. Caring was stupid. Siblings were stupid. She wasn’t quite sure why she was even trying, when what she said was taken as meanness and not ever as attempting to make a connection the only way she knew how.
Pyotr sighed and got to his feet, opening his door and sticking his head out to watch her go. "That's what I thought." he said in Russian. "Dammit, Illyana, you tell me constantly how embarrassed you are of me!" he said at her retreating back. "That hurts." he said, in the same language, but to himself and not her.
Great job, Pyotr. Piss off a third of the only family you have left. All because she takes great delight in belittling you.
Illyana glared at him over her shoulder as she stopped, shouting back in Russian. “All sibling are embarrassment, is point of having sibling!” Her view was admittedly skewed, with much of her understanding of how siblings should behave being American television shows she’d watched her first time at the mansion. Also Pyotr was a sap that wore emotions on his face, and she’d been raised in an environment that might have literally eaten her alive had she not learned to stuff it down and cover it up. Trying to mesh his happy, rainbows and sunshine optimism with her own pessimistic attitude and ruthlessness was like smashing two rituals with similar outcomes but different styles and languages together. Sometimes it worked - mostly, grudgingly, a little awkwardly. But other times it literally blew up.
He just took another deep, slow breath and then released it. "Is NOT point of having sibling!" he said back, then shook his head. "Is no point trying to explain this." he said sadly, then looked for a long moment at his sister. Maybe the others were right - Limbo destroyed his sister, leaving behind a ruthless harsh woman wearing her adult face. He looked at her once more, then stepped back into his room to close the door.
He really should have just given her what she wanted.
