9073/It is a numbers game

It is a numbers game
Date of Scene:	04 September 2019
Location:	Doug's Room (West Halls), Xavier's School
Synopsis:	Illyana comes to see Doug and they watch Highlander, talk about life, and agree to go out. Fin.
Cast of Characters:	Magik, Cypher

---

Magik has posed:
It isn't even that long after they returned from the Savage Lands, a few hours at most, that there's a curt and hollow knock at Doug's door. It's either the cops or a person who thinks like one.. In truth, it's Illyana, so both are as much true as not.

She's clean(er) and wearing pajama pants in the style of Nightmare Before Christmas and a tanktop. She's barefoot. She's also carrying a plastic bag dangling from her curled fingers full of stuff.

Cypher has posed:
Doug promptly returned to his room -- first, he passed out for a few hours. Then he got a shower, and he comes to the door, still damp and pink, his hair combed (he's vain about his hair, always has been) and he's wearing a pair of checked pajama pants.

"Oh." He says, a little surprised, as he opens the door. "Hey." He steps aside. "Come on in."

Magik has posed:
Rather than immediately entering, Illyana extends her hand holding the plastic bag, "I could not remember what is your favorite ice cream. So I got a lot of different types. If you do not like one of them, lie." She glances at the bag, then at Doug, then at the bag, "I am kidding, you are not having to lie."

But he probably should.

With that out of the way, she slips inside, turning to pass beside him with her arms down at her sides now empty, "Also did not know if you are having Highlander movie. It seems certain that you do, but if you did not, I would have had to leave to get it, and I did not want to do that."

Cypher has posed:
Doug takes the ice cream, and then says, "Trick question, it's rum raisin, nobody likes it but me, but I *like* all kinds of ice cream." He sets the bag down, and then says, "Of course I have it. Let me just..." He says, "Boot up the file." Of course he has it on digital. "Hold on, I have just the --" He gets a projector and hooks it up to his laptop, and aims it at a blank section of wall.

"Okay." He says, sitting back on the bed. "So let's watch, and I'll explain."

Magik has posed:
Illyana figured that it existed in some form or another somewhere in this room, "Now you also have hard copy." She informs him, pointing down at the bag where the VHS is tucked in against some of the ice cream. Because everyone has a VHS player in 2027. She kneels down beside this bag and grabs a pint of Mint Chocolate chip and a big plastic serving spoon while the projector is being set up, then heads for the bed, sitting down on the floor facing the bald section of wall where the movie will be displayed with her back against the mattress.

"Da. This is why I am bringing movie." Peeling off the top of her ice cream, "I bring ice cream because I wanted some and it feels bad to eat in front of you."

Cypher has posed:
"Well, I mean, don't. My metabolism is merely human--" Doug says, "I maintain this figure by hitting the gym every day and a metabolically perfected diet. Which I do cheat on a little bit." He IS the world's fittest IT guy. He picks cookies and cream, and says, "But I've earned a cheat."

Then he watches, gesturing. "So okay. The whole plot of the movie is about the gathering, where all the immortals meet. They get more active. They start pursuing their plans again. So..." He says, "We know there are some really *old* people. Apocalypse. Selene. That... skull... guy, whose name is apparently blotted out by the curse on him."

"So, and I'm completely mixing in another movie here, there's going to be a gathering of the Immortals, soon-- or like in the Dark Crystal, a Great Conjunction? As Lovecraft would say, a time when the Stars Are Right."

Magik has posed:
Illyana is already eating ice cream, healthy scoops with her serving spoon sliding between thin, pale lips as he begins to explain his reason for mentioning Highlander in the first place. "So they come together for purpose or just because it has been so long?" Stab-stab, scoop, mouth working to liquify.

"I know Lovecraft." She points her spoon at Doug, that being her initial takeaway.

"I think sometimes bad things happen for unintentional reasons. We find Atlantian symbology around tomb of serpant god, but there is also mention of Selene who is... pre all of this." The spoon sits upside down in her mouth while she considers, "It is Magneto's old base too.. could no small coincidence it is happening as his floating island comes closer?"

Cypher has posed:
"I don't know." Doug says. "I will say... people are pattern-recognition machines. It's the key to so much of our success as a species." He sits, thoughtfully, having had his share of ice cream, "And sometimes we pick up on patterns without even realizing it. Just as often, we see patterns that aren't really there, which is why sometimes we come up with crazy conspiracy theories."

He looks down. "So short answer... maybe? Magneto is incredibly in tune with the earth's magnetic field... you know more about ley lines and such than I do."

He glances up to Illyana, and says, "I don't know." His mouth squiggles. "...Don't know, beautiful."

Magik has posed:
Illyana is not yet done with hers because there's still some at th bottom and she wants it. The small carton is held up close, squinting at it, since her spoon is too small, and tries to will it to pour into her mouth when she tilts it up against it. It does not comply, much to her chagrin.

"Something is wrong with Ley lines." Which seems like something she should have shared before now and probably not so absently as if talking about being out of milk, but there's the matter of that little bit of ice cream to occupy her attention. "They are.. wrong. Like someone is messing with them. Is good we are going to see Doctor Strange, I want to ask him about this, I am certain he will know."

There it is again. The carton goes down into her folded lap, head turning to stare up at Doug, "This is second time tonight you are saying that. I let first go because we are in high stress situation and adrenoline forces irrational chemical deviation in pattern of brain function. Figure, he is not thinking straight." The ice cream temporarily forgotten, she continues to stare at him, "Are you repeating it now to make me wonder about your sanity or to make sure I am hearing that you say it?"

Cypher has posed:
"Huh?" Doug thinks back over what he said, and then he says, "Oh. Oh." He says. "Well. I mean... I guess my language was getting overly familiar." He says. "Objectively, you are-- but it's not acceptable to refer to people with diminuitives that they're not comfortable with." He looks chagrinned, embarassed, or disappointed in himself.

"Sorry."

Magik has posed:
Illyana continues to stare up at Doug, probably for a lot longer than anyone would be comfortable being stared at by Illyana. Long after he's apologized. Probably well into, really awkward prolonged eye contact. The carton of ice cream is set aside and she sucks little bits of green melt from the inside of her finger as she turns and stands up, which could be relatively omenous depending on the temperment of the situation.

Turning once she's on her feet, she stands facing him on the bed with her head cant to one side. Blonde hair spilling down across her shoulder, though her bangs remain impressively stationary along the top of her brow. When she again moves it's to lean in towards him, one hand sitting on the mattress just outside his leg, the other on his leg.

"Do not be alarmed, I am going to kiss you." And unless he stops her, she does that.

Cypher has posed:
"Oh. Okay." It's hard to surprise him, at least when in immediate physical proximity.

His arms go around her, and he's warm and responsive. When he picks up on a positive physical cue, he does more of that specific thing he's doing, tailoring his own physical language to what she likes. He finally pulls back, because he has to breathe.

"Illyana--" he says, "...Wow." He holds up a finger. "I - wow." Then he says, "...That was... great."

He takes a deep breath, his chest rising and falling, before he twists a strand of pin-straight blonde hair around his techno-organic fingers. "...Listen." He says. "I was dead for two years... and you were robbed of the normal life you deserved by a very evil person. We are both... playing catchup, in so many ways. Learning what *we* want."

"So I don't ever want to lead you down a wrong path... or make promises I turn out to be unable to keep. So first, let me ask you. What do *you* feel like *you* want? How can I help you get it?"

Magik has posed:
It starts out as easily as Doug lets it be. For being someone so use to dominance, it turns out she's rather timid when it comes to intimacy, but it wasn't long ago she was hurt because of it, so it probably has no small part to play. As his body language changes, she responds. First leaning in, then crawling up on the bed, then wrapping her arms around the back of his neck with her head tilting.

When breathing becomes an issue, she pulls away and settles down beside him on the bed. As always she sits perfectly straight with her hands down on her thighs and eyes facing forward while he asks he first states how great the kiss was, which she agrees simply by nodding, to asking what it is she wants.

"I do not know this answer." She's honest, if not verbose. "I will hurt you if you hurt me."

Cypher has posed:
"And I don't know what I want." Doug says... "Just that I want to learn what I want."

Then he glances toward Illyana, and says, "So maybe we could find out -- together. We're both struggling to break the mold of the person we were, and become the person we want -- need to be... both of those things."

"So let's -- learn together. And if life takes us down separate paths for a time, like it often seems to in this crazy messed-up... lives, plural... that we live--" He blinks blue eyes, and then moves to embrace Illyana around the shoulders, warmly, "Let's leave each other with *good* memories, that we can use to be the best possible versions of ourselves."

"Maybe not a lifetime... because we know they can be brief, and... interrupted. More like a one day at a time?"

Magik has posed:
"I feel like one of girls from movies Rogue and Kitty are watching with comedy and romance, but before she is taking off her glasses and showing the world that she is actually very beautiful where before she was just weird girl with glasses." Illyana says with a sideways glance, "Are you saying you are wanting to go out with me or that you are wanting to take things slowly?"

The usually quiet Magik asks the questions she has in her head contrary to her usual do it herself or die trying attitude. "I do not know what I am wanting or where I will be a year... or tomorrow. I could go back to Limbo and is nine years from now for me when I come back in afternoon.. I miss lunch.. you miss my twenties."

She shrugs, this is her life. "So... I do not know. I just..." Her palms come up to cover her face, then drop back down into her lap when his arm goes around her stiff shoulders. She doesn't loosen beneath it, but at least she's not pulling away. "You are better at words than me, Doug. I need you to speaking plainly for once."

Cypher has posed:
Doug considers that, and then he says, "...And I wonder how human I'll be tomorrow." He says. He laces Illyana's fingers through his techno-organic ones. "Would you want me if I was all... like this? A being of silicon and circuitry, not flesh and blood? Because that might happen to me someday."

He exhales, and then looks up at Illyana. "The answer to that is yes. I want to go out with you. You don't need to show me the beautiful person you secretly are, because you don't need to transform yourself."

"...Do you know, sometimes, I feel like I'm not allowed to feel certain ways for fear of disappointing everyone, or violating their memory of the person I was before I died? I can't be angry, or horny, or *anything* that doesn't make me look like a freakin' saint." He clenches his flesh hand into a fist and then relaxes it.

"I want... God, I want *so many* things. But for you--" He thinks, trying to pick just the right words. "For you I want you to know, to have fully internalized that all of you is *worth* loving. Even the darkness. Mark Twain once asked 'who prays for Satan'? Well, I don't know if I believe in God at all! But I've seen you fight your demons, both metaphorical and physical... and win. And win, and win, and win... and somehow still lose. And I'm tired of that."

"So what I want, Illyana Rasputina... YA khochu, chtoby ty pobedil. YA khochu pomoch' tebe pobedit!"

Magik has posed:
Illyana doesn't even look down at the hand that grips hers, so unphased by it, she closes her fingers around the techno-organic knuckles easily without a second thought. "Da." She answers the question ernestly, as she does all questions. She's a lot of things.. she's killed, hurt people, tortured, and rules over a Hell Dimension, but she doesn't lie. Deception isn't in her wheelhouse.

"I know how this is feeling." She admits, glancing sideways at him finally, rather than staring at some random point across the room, and slowly leans towards him until her shoulder rests against his. "You are allowed to feeling however you are feeling. You are hu.." She stops and shakes her head, "You are person." She still doesn't have a lot of love for Humans. Probably never will.

She says very little in regards to her lot in life. Never complains about the cards she was dealt or acts like they are too hard or worthy of making excuses. "I do not like how people look at me... their fear.." She admits this quietly, "Always worried I will... change or hurt somone. I am very forthright.. If I intending harm, they will know. Since very few could stop me anyways, being subtle does not effect anything."

Then, the last of his words spoken in Russian, draw her full attention. Head back slightly, "Doug, I want you to ask me to go out with you."

Cypher has posed:
Doug nods. "I'm a big mac in a life full of steak. Sometimes I feel like nobody's first choice... or their last choice, for that matter. I've fooled around but... you can't really make a relationship with someone who *isn't* part of this crazy messed-up life we live, so I've never done more than that. I've never had the chance. Would you like to date me? Go to the movies? Visit strange dimensions? Be heroes? ...Go out with me, and see where we wind up? Because I'd like that, very, very much. It could last for a day, or it could last for many lifetimes -- I don't know!"

"But I want to find out." He says. "And that starts with 'would you like to go out, sometime?'" He looks down, faintly embarassed. "I can't promise you true love." He says. "But I can promise you that I do love you, and you can have that for a lifetime... no matter what form it takes."

Magik has posed:
"You talk too much." Illyana says, waiting for him to finish before bringing up a finger to touch the end of his nose. "Boop." Tap. "When you asking me before, I..." She shrugs and glances down, "I think everything is timing or events happening in very clearly defined way to make things transpire the way they are supposing to be. Like pattern, I guess, but more is like ritual or incantation." She motions at invisible impliments on an invisible board, "I had to go through what I am going through. All of it.. otherwise maybe I am not sitting here now?"

She shrugs indifferently.

"I have only ever being with one person. I wanting to be with you now. Is not second choice, is first choice right now. I do not believe in consolation prizes, I believe in what is and is not.." She's /trying/ to voice her thoughts, it's just round about and convoluted.

She lacks the vinacular of the Master of Languages.

"Da, Doug Ramsey, I would liking to go out with you."

Cypher has posed:
"Then let's make our own language... just for the two of us. And see what the writing on the wall says." Doug says. "Let's... make each other more of ourselves." He takes Illyana's hand, and then kisses it. "And... try to satisfy each other's wants and needs."

"I would very... very much like to make out with you. I, um." He says, "Well..." He flushes, faintly. "I would *like* to do a lot of things. I have a vivid imagination, as you well know. But I would also *prefer* it if you set the pace for... stuff."

Magik has posed:
"Now you are talking language I liking to hear." Illyana is not a comedian, it's her delivery, dry and from an overtly flat expression. He kisses her hand and she grins, which itself could be mistaken for kind of creepy simply because she shows all of her teeth... like a shark. Then she turns a little to scoot backwards towards the head of the bed.

She stares jutting her head in her direction, "I would like for you to make out with me, then. I am going to summon demon.. right over there." Pointing at the light switch, "And you can assume any hands on you are mine.. Come here." Curling a finger as the lights go out.

Cypher has posed:
Doug may be a bit of an adrenaline junkie. Maybe he was all along, in a studious, intellectual sort of way. *Craving* excitement... and boy, did he get it. And the more of it he gets, the more of it he wants.

The lights go out, and then he says, "...Yes ma'am!" In the dark.