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[open And we keep waiting to be seen, right?

who: Illya Kuryakin & you
what: just a general catch-all
when: End of April and beginning of May
where: around the city shopping, gym
warnings: will add if needed

1; around

Illya doesn’t get out much.

It’s not being in a strange place, in a strange world full of strange people with futuristic technology. Or… rather, even though he has to admit that’s kind of getting under the skin, it’s not just that. He’s just used to keeping to himself, to doing things on his own and only relying on his boss to give him his orders and trust Illya will know what to do.

In here it’s different. In here he doesn’t have to hide, doesn’t have to keep in the shadows and become a shadow himself. In here he can get out and try to be a normal person. Or at least do his best to look like one, since the most people know about him is a fake name and his claims that he was a rowboat champion before he ended up in this place.

So there’s probably something… calming, in just doing normal things. Grocery shopping, checking out nearby libraries, just stopping at a park and watching the animals go by. It may seem boring to most people, but to Illya is kind of refreshing to be able to do all of this without a weight on his shoulders. He figures it will get boring eventually, but for now he enjoys his newfound freedom.

Enjoying it so much he doesn’t even notice the orange firefly circling him.

2; gym

It does get boring eventually, even with all the shenanigans going around.

Illya is used to physical exertion, to being active and working out as much as he can, as much as he’s healthy. Back home he needed his body to be in peak condition, to be able to fulfill every mission as fast as efficiently as possible. Most of them ended up with him running away or towards something, after all. But in here his job, while more interesting than what he had assumed when it had been assigned to him, doesn’t require much more than a inquisitive mind and knowing where to look, what questions to ask.

He really misses the exertion. So after asking around and getting some advice he’s finally decided to join a nearby gym.

He can be seen running himself ragged on the treadmill, doing weights or basically using every single machine he can find his hands on. Yay technology. Obviously not all on the same day, he’s stubborn but not suicidal… but someone should probably tell him to slow down.

3: OPEN option! Go wild. Poke me on DM or over at

crotalus if you want a specific thread!

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[luckily her tolerance for taciturn stoics is pretty (read: insanely) high. She just raises an eyebrow.]

Martial arts, I'd wager?

[He nods.] They helped me focus.

What about you? How do you train?

[That's something of a loaded question. Shai runs her hands along the length of the bar she prevented him from lifting, and rolls her shoulders up into a shrug.]

Any which way I think I need to. I run, lift weights [she lifts that bar out of its bracket by about an inch with one arm and no visible effort. she's not showing off, but she's showing off. it's a subtle difference.] Fight monsters and the like. I've run into the same problem, near enough, with no one knowing my style of choice as far as punching folks goes.

[Illya blinks, trying to gauge exactly how strong this woman is. Illya wasn’t exactly going it easy with the weights, so what she lifted with one hand was pretty heavy. And yet she did it as easily as he would have lifted a water bottle. He doesn’t consider himself easy to impress, and he’s even less willing to let people know when something has impressed him. So there’s no visible reaction to that show of strength. But…

Well. Consider Illya impressed.]

I am a fast learner. [He says, with a one-shouldered shrug.] If you ever wanted to teach someone to… ‘punch people’ the way you do. But I know that is not same as having someone to spar with.

[It's a matter of gravity, Illya, don't take it personally. She probably outweighs you, too.]

I've showed the ropes to other folks a time or to. I'd be happy to put on a repeat performance. So long as you haven't got an objection to doing as I say.

[Honestly she's now just lowkey saying suggestive shit for her own amusement more than for the possibility of him picking up on it. It's lowkey trolling, so sue her.]

I am used to following orders [Is he sidestepping the suggestive shit? Not getting it? Playing along with it to tease her because he’s a troll? It’s always hard to tell, with Illya. ...But he’s totally being a troll.

He does seem genuinely interested in learning a new type of fighting style, particularly if he’s going to be taught by a woman so strong. He figures the way she fights doesn’t have to do with her strength, since as far as Illya has seen it seems beyond what a human would accomplish with just training. But it still makes Illya definitely interested.]

But I need to ask you something, first.

Are you human?

Edited 2017-05-15 20:01 (UTC)

[He's a riot, really. Shai considers the question - her race is human, certainly, but with divergences enough that the others she's met here consider her something of an oddity. She shrugs.]

Flesh and blood and bone, same as most. But I'm certainly not from Earth, if that's your quantification.

[Illya has to stop and think about it. Before coming here the idea of aliens would have been absurd at best, a threat to be protected from at worst. But thanks to this place he’s made friends with aliens and people from all over the universe, even people who come from completely different universes altogether where humans aren’t even really a thing. So he’s not surprised at all by the revelation that she’s not from Earth.

But she’s definitely humanoid, at least. And if she considers herself human then Illya supposes that’s good enough for him. So she’s a human alien, to Illya’s standards… but he decides to keep the alien part to himself.]

I am from Earth. Russia, to be specific. [Proud of it, this one. He doesn’t expect her to recognize Russia by name, he’s met a few people who have never heard of it, but it still feels important to mention somehow.] And what you did- [He motions at the weight with his chin.] Isn’t something I’ve seen any Earth human do.

How much weight can you lift? [There's definitely a curious glint in his eyes.]

[She knows what it's like to have pride in one's home, so she accepts that with due consideration. Russia. She'll remember it.]

In kilograms? [She gives it a moment's consideration, doing some mental mathematics in the back of her mind.]

Four hundred? Five in a pinch?

[Illya tilts his head. His version of a rather impressed whistle, because that’s… well. A little more and she would be lifting double what he can lift. And Illya is a pretty tall, trained man. Hm.]

You could probably lift me, then. [He’s just saying.]

[don't give her that opening, Illya, don't do it. you'll Regret it.

Too late.]

That an invitation, sweetheart?

[Enjoy that playful little leer.]

[Illya pauses for a second because- well. He did walk straight into that one. He just didn’t mean anything by it, he was just commenting on how impressive the feat was. But part of him is actually kind of amused, so he doesn’t mind.]

I’ve been told the appropriate response to that kind of thing is ‘you should buy me dinner, first’. I was merely stating a fact. [He hasn’t met many people would be able to lift him, let alone a woman of Shai’s size. He’ll probably not stop being impressed any time soon.]

But wrestling with you would really be an interesting challenge.

[This fellow has amused her beyond all reasonable doubt, to be sure. She laughs.]

Well, assuming you eat, that offer's always open.

[She likes both food and company, even if nothing more comes of it. Never let it be said she's not one for casual encounters.]

Wrestling, though, we could hop right into. They've got mats aplenty.

I have been known to eat. [He teases, but he’s actually glad she asked. He hasn’t been here for all that long and his tendency to divide his life between his work and investigating the network in search of clues hasn’t exactly helped him get out of his shell. Clues for what? Well, he will know when he finds them.

At the offer of wrestling, though, he actually grins.]

We could try, if you want. But if you can lift that much you will probably have the strength to go with it. [He’s proud, but not stupid. He probably just doesn’t want to end up with a broken arm or something.]

I need to know that you won’t hold back. [...Well, he’s not stupid but his pride definitely gets the best of him at times.]

[That's cute. Shai rocks back on her feet, arms folded. The motion makes her long braid sway behind her.]

I don't hold back, you're likely to end up in a hospital.

[Just. Pointing out facts. Freedom of choice and all, of course. Kveth, maybe that's his fetish.]

[Illya’s hands twitch in what is very clearly a show of interest, because he’s… well, saying he’s got issues probably doesn’t even begin to cover it. But while he can flirt if needed to for a mission it doesn’t come naturally to him, so he keeps those thoughts to himself.]

It would not be fair if you held back, but I suppose you have a point. I am just curious about your actual strength.

If not sparring, maybe I could see you lift.

[Definitely his fetish. She's not really interested in hurting people for pain's sake, but she Gets It, too.]

Lifting I can do. Here, hop on up.

[Turn down a chance to show off? Her? Lmao.

She gestures him off the bench he's been sitting on, and sets about loading the bar up with more weight. The individual plates themselves are barely a hindrance to her.]

[Illya gives her a (very small) grin as he steps off the bench. Ever since he got here he’s had to adapt to people’s… powers, strengths, to meeting elves and aliens and the like. He thinks he’s handled it fairly well considering, but there’s so much unknown surrounding him it kind of makes him nervous.

But this kind of unknown...? This he can definitely handle.]

Do you want to build up to as much weight as you can handle? [He’s aware by now that fragile isn’t even in the vicinity of this woman, but that doesn’t mean she can’t hurt herself if she pushes herself too much. And Illya has no idea what ‘too much’ looks for her after what she’s told him, so.]

Nah. I've been at this a few hours already, plenty warmed up.

[She sets the last plate on the bar and slides the endcap pins on before she drops herself down onto the bench. She winks at Illya rather outrageously, slaps her hands together (this causes bright blue sparks to jump between them) and then she sets both hands on the bar.

It's not exactly a struggle to lift - it's heavy, sure, but she took care not to overload herself when she doesn't have a spotter. She does a few reps, and then sets the bar back into its cradle gently.]

Tadah.

[She wiggles her fingers.]

Impressive. [He says as she lifts, because even if he was expecting it totally is.

This is probably the first time in a very long time that Illya would be completely useless as a spotter. And he shouldn’t be as okay as he is with that, but here we are. He tilts his head, looking at her muscles to see how much she’s straining as he tries to decide if she’s trying to lift more than she usually does to show off. He decides she isn’t, it’s just enough to be a bit of a strain.

But he did notice something else. And she seems not to mind questions too much, so.]

What was that, though? [He slaps his hands together, just like she did to symbolize the blue spark he saw.]

Electricity.

[She says it matter-of-factly. It wasn't anything she did consciously - but it does improve her grip a touch, enough to make a difference when it comes to lifting something heavy or having cause to drop it on one's self. Not a surprise he'd notice, she supposes.]

I'm [he'll have no frame of reference for it, but she doesn't like the term 'metahuman' which is what she's heard earthlings mostly use--] -- something called culgenic. Magic powers, essentially. I manipulate electric energy.

[Illya’s heard the term metahuman, mostly thanks to people from Clark and Jon’s world so he would kinda know what she means by that. He’s slowly coming to terms with the idea. But it isn’t like he’s exactly familiar with either term, coming from a world where magic and superpowers are a thing that only happens on comic books.

But she did just lift at least double what Illya can lift on his best day like it was nothing, so he shouldn’t be surprised there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to her.]

I’ve met people with powers, but no one that referred to themselves that way. [He’s just stating it matter of factly. When he gets home the name will probably go to his coded notebook.]

By manipulate you mean you let it go through you? Or transfer it from one place to another?

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[open And we keep waiting to be seen, right?

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