With Anastasia, it’s kind of a given that she has a skewed sense of time. It comes from spending so much of it where Time is basically on crack and can’t seem to decide weather to be fast or slow. But, somehow, she always manages to show up for Sunday night dinner with her brother. Most of the time the blonde drops in wherever he happens to be at about 6pm. This is great if he wants to pick the restaurant (because Anastasia doesn’t tend to cook), he just needs to be standing there and she shows up. It’s… less good if he forgets. And is entertaining or something.
Tonight? He was at home so she decided on the place, and just teleported him over. Hopefully he put his shoes on. It’s a small Thai place and as Aleksei appears next to the table she’s sitting at she’s already perusing the menu.
Anastasia tends towards wearing heavy boots and lots of leather, but ‘Fashion’ in this day and age is sort of all over the place so she doesn’t stand out too much.
Aleksei Rasputin tends to dress for comfort, which is to say shirt, jeans and sneakers. Granted, the shirt tends to be on the tight side but that’s comfortable too. Not to mention flattering. The bomber jacket he’s wearing is leather though as it’s damn cold out. Looking around to see what his sister chose, he nods then walks over to where she’s sitting and joins her. “Good choice.”
Like Aleksei, Anastasia doesn’t notice the cold as much as most people but she does have a jacket on and the fur trim on it is likely real. The blonde looks up as Aleksei joins her and gives him a faint, but quite real, smile. “I felt like soup tonight.” She’s partial to Tom Kha. Her English holds the burr of a Russian accent. Her Russian has flavors of… something else. Demonic tongues spoken almost exclusively for a decade.
“You have several weeks until you start classes again, da?” Anastasia took some as well when she first came back, but nothing so formal as college. It was more to get a better handle on the world she was in. A big believer in Knoweldge, is Aleksei’s younger/older sister.
“Da.” Aleksei agrees absently as he picks up the menu to look it over. Not that he needs to. Like his sister, his accent is audible though his is purely Russian, untainted by anything else. “I should register soon but can’t decide on what classes to take.” He still hasn’t declared a major.
“Gabrielle is missing, and it is looking like some investigation might need to be done in Eastern Europe.” Both of the Trent siblings were with Anastasia when Aleksei was rescued. While not particularly close to the Rasputins, Aleksei’s still meet Gabrielle several times. And the initial meeting isn’t likely one he’d forget.
Anastasia’s phrasing is also something Aleksei’s had time to get used to. The way she’ll ‘ask’ for something without actually asking. It’s there in the setup of the conversation. Making sure Aleksei doesn’t have prior commitments, then saying something needs done. It’s perhaps more invitation than request.
Paying back those who’ve helped you doesn’t require any thinking about so Aleksei just nods. “Let me know when we’re to go.” he replies, inviting himself along even if it wasn’t a request. “Anything I should know about?”
Another small smile flickers across Anastasia’s features. She rather expected her brother’s answer. “She was checking up on White Devil at the time.” Which brings it even closer to home. “While Jericho has been looking into things, he’s gotten some anonymous deliveries that imply a link between government programs and Limbo.” Her mouth sets into an unhappy line and she shakes her head. “Too many coincidences.”
“Which government? Ours?” Which is to say, Russian. Aleksei still doesn’t think of himself as American, if he ever will. “How could they have access to Limbo? Is there a clone of hers working for them?” After a pause, as if it’s a sudden thought, he suggests “We should take the DNA of our family from them.”
“Ours? Unsure. But the Americans it seems? Yes. If it is connected?” Anastasia shrugs. “Yet to be determined.” She sighs in a soft exhale at the question of how they’d have access to Limbo. “Maybe a clone. Maybe something of their tech?” She’s aware that there’s a lot of technology that’s way more advanced than anything she deals with. “It seems there is a metal from Limbo that interests them.” One finger traces over the silvery cuff on her left wrist.
The suggestion of taking the Rasputin DNA gets a look of mild interest. “They probably have multiple copies of it. It would be… involved.” But given what was done to them, it’s an idea she can certainly get behind.
Aleksei nods his agreement. “It won’t be easy. But they have no right to our DNA. No right to create more of us. They could even make agents to send after us; I don’t want to fight myself or you.” But back on topic. “What’s so special about the metal?”
Anastasia Rasputina seems mildly amused at Aleksei’s response. “Have you been attending political rallies?” It’s gently teasing, the topic one of contention in places like the US where mutants are at least considered people.
“I’m sure they have tried. Jericho’s run across a few.” The blonde says in response to agents being sent after them. Magik clones at least, seem to have a high rate of failure. “But I think any enemies we’d make of denying Mother Russia the ability to make and brainwash more of us are enemies we’ve already had.” One fingernail taps against the table thoughtfully. “You should outline a plan.”
As to the metal? “It was used to make the traces that both Jericho and Gabrielle have. It’s also what the Darkchilde’s armor was made out of. One of the things that my demons said was a Sign.” Of Anastasia being the Darkchilde returned.
There’s a thoughtful hrm as Aleksei sets the menu down. “So they’ve gone and gotten metal from there before. Can’t you set the demons on watch or something? I doubt they’ll mind being ordered to kill any intruders and it’s something they’re actually good at.”
“Would that I could.” Anastasia says with a sigh. “For all that my demons are Believers, I //don’t// hold absolute sway over Limbo.” She has a fairly substational piece of it, if ‘size’ means anything in a realm that is potentially endless. “I’ve sent out some scouts to see if they can learn anything about humans that have been in Limbo.” But the realm is vast and demons tend to have the attention span of a 5 year old.
“Oh.” What Aleksei knows about Limbo could fill a thimble. “Well, is there any harm in them getting their hands on more of the metal? Maybe we could even set ourselves up as a supplier of it – in limited quantities – and make some money. Not to mention ending up with some American government contacts in case the Russians come looking for us. We could use one against the other.”
“I… honestly don’t know.” Anastasia admits, rather grudgingly of the metal. And it’s only because it’s Aleksei that she’s likely doing so. She //hates// to admit to not knowing things that are important, part of that skewed sense of showing weakness that she has. “But it is something I am looking into.” Hopefully, the tome that Jericho got will have some answers.
“Well, let me know when you find out. So how does this tie into Gabrielle?” Aleksei asks. “Or does it? And what was she doing in Eastern Europe? Tell me everything.” Truth be told, he’s been kind of bored lately so the possibility of some action is looking good.
Anastasia Rasputina smirks over at her brother. Even though the situation with Gabrielle missing isn’t good, she can still be amused at her brother. “She and Jericho have been working for years to help get mutants out of Europe. White Devil was apparently larger than you and I, and so when word comes up about it, they follow up on it.” Usually, it’s hacking and recon work. Stuff that Anastasia isn’t particularly great at and Aleksei was likely deemed too young for the siblings to involve him. The blonde sorceress doesn’t see Aleksei’s age as quite so big of a deal.
“So, on the one hand,” Anastasia turns one hand palm-up. “We have White Devil, which Gabrielle was looking into when she disapeared that you and I were products of. On the other hand,” She turns her other hand palm-up. “We have this mystery metal from Limbo, somewhere I am involved in, that gives the Trents their abilities, that was in a book that showed up on Jericho’s doorstep.”
One of Aleksei’s brows rises as his expression grows dubious. “A trap, of course. Or at best, someone trying to use them to do something that’s too dangerous for them to do themselves. What’s in the book?”
“The obvious answer is the White Devil doesn’t like her poking around and caught up to her. Still. Coincidences. I don’t like them.” As to the book, Anastasia wrinkles her nose a bit. It’s almost cute. “It’s rather like the ramblings of a madman. Part diary, part manual, part observations… And all written in a demonic tongue. So I’ll need to translate it and then probably figure out what goes with what.” It would help if Nastya didn’t cling to the antiquated idea of pen and paper.
“If it’s written in demon, how do they know what’s in the book?” Aleksei asks curiously. “Or did you start translating it and she rushed off before you came close to finishing?” Settling back in his chair, he drums his fingers on the table. “I wonder if you could scan it into a computer and have a program translate it. After you supplied a chapter or two translated, it might be able to do the rest.”
“The book showed up after she went missing.” Timelines of events are not Anastasia’s strong point. “She heard of something and was investigating and went missing. Jericho called me when the book showed up, and I reconigzed the text.”
The mention of scanning it gets a deep frown from the blonde. Normally, she does a thoughtful-frown sort of thing. This isn’t that. “Even Third Tier demonic is dangerous. Speaking and writing it for those that don’t know what they’re doing is not an idea, and mixing magic and technology…” She shakes her head. “I’ve yet to find someone that understands both principals enough to make it seem like a good idea.”
Aleksei shrugs a little. “If you say so. Waiter’s coming over anyway so we should switch topics and order. I’ll have the drunken noodles.” That and pad thai are his most common choices for Thai food. “We should do something for New Years. Why don’t you think while we eat.” He’s clearly assuming she gave it no thought at all up to now.
Well. She hadn’t. Anastasia gives Aleksei a narrow-eyed look, but the corners of her mouth quirk upwards. “Fine. I will think of something to do for this silly time-based holiday.” Hopefully he didn’t make plans. It might involve watching fireworks displays in every timezone…
The Rasputins meet up for Sunday Dinner.
Date:
December 30, 2050
Mentions:
Jericho Trent
Dramatis Personae
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