Yelena Belova (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
waytodie) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
etrayalogs2024-07-24 11:36 am
waytodie) wrote in etrayalogs2024-07-24 11:36 am
{Everyone thinks that we're perfect
WHO: Yelena Belova, Dick Grayson, Octavia Blake, & Cassandra De Rolo (+Others?)
WHEN: During Mission 004
WHERE: Grayson-Belova family unit house; otherwise noted
WHAT: Family shenanigans
NOTES\WARNINGS: Dysfunctional family dynamics; heavy family-related emotions; will otherwise be marked where needed.
WHEN: During Mission 004
WHERE: Grayson-Belova family unit house; otherwise noted
WHAT: Family shenanigans
NOTES\WARNINGS: Dysfunctional family dynamics; heavy family-related emotions; will otherwise be marked where needed.
FamChat 💖🗡️🕸️
📞 🎥
Yelena
What are we doing for dinner tonight?
Octavia
Tacos?
Dick
It's not even Tuesday!
Cassandra
Ohmygod. 🙄
Octavia
Ugh Dad, stop.
Yelena
Yes, please, no more dad jokes.
{Let's play pretend, act like it comes naturally
Her boots make soft sounds against the hardwood floor as she moves deeper into the house, taking it all in, fingers trailing distractedly against furniture as she walks-- the table in the front hallway by the door, the wall, the back of the couch... anything that hits about waist high. It's nicer than the house she remembers growing up in, but it tugs on those old memories too, tangling her gut into knots she won't bother trying to untangle for now.
"Pick your rooms, I guess," she says, mostly to the girls branded as daughters of the house, as she comes to stand in the center of the living room, hands on her hips. "I suppose we are meant to share," she says to Dick, who she is only passingly familiar with, but as fake husbands go, she thinks maybe he'll be all right.
no subject
To be brought here, to be FORCED to be here, and thrust into this false, pre-made family… it strikes her somewhere she’s buried so deep. That she’s had to bury so deep in order to survive. The still deeply raw, bleeding wound that that is the slaughter of her family by those they had welcomed into their home. Something she's never had a chance to truly deal with. Something she's never had a chance to mourn.
It makes her more prickly than usual. More tense, and more suspicious, and swallowing down a deep-set desire to rebel. To tear this place apart at the seams. (That, however, is extremely unlikely. No matter how badly she might wish it. But she can watch. And she can learn. And she can wait. She can play this game.)
So here she is, a slip of a girl in an oversized sweater, frowning and making a face at the interior of the house this family they’ve been assigned has been provided. (Does she have half a desire to knock one of the ugly vases sitting around to the floor like the half-feral cat that she is? Yes, yes she does.)
“Do you think they’re monitoring us here?” she asks. “Or is it just in public?” It feels like a near certainty that they are.
no subject
no subject
She's studying things thoughtfully as she wanders around the room. "Everything seems a bit more... technologically focused, at least in the cities we've been in, so I don't think they'd lean towards more magical means of surveillance? Doesn't mean they can't. Doesn't mean they don't. Just that magic doesn't seem to be their first resort. Which means we might be able to devise methods to give ourselves a bit more privacy."
no subject
"Magic is pretty prominent where you're from, yeah?" she focuses on Cass again, curious. She's learned bits and pieces here and there, but Cassandra is almost more closed off than some adults Yelena has known.
no subject
“It is, yes,” she answers. “Both arcane magic and divine.” This she offers easily. There’s no need to hide it; it’s not something she’s tried to hide. No, she’s keeping other things close to her chest.
no subject
"Come, come," She gestures for Cassandra to come closer and, telegraphing her moves with enough time for her to dodge it if she isn't feeling it, she tries to put an arm around her shoulders. Yelena won't be offended if she doesn't particularly seem fond of it.
"Tell me more about it?" She guides them through the house, now just checking the layout of the whole place. "Would I be able to see evidence of it? Feel it somehow? Or do you have to be particularly magically inclined for those things?" At least explaining how magic works in her experience might take both of their minds off of some of the other swirling thoughts attacking at the moment.
no subject
Yelena, is, perhaps, one of the only people here who she might let put an arm around her shoulders. And the fact that she telegraphs the move, making it clear to her what she’s going to do, helps. It helps a great deal. (But it doesn’t help the tangled snarl of emotions in her chest at ALL.) She tries very hard to not think about it as Yelena puts her arm around her shoulder. As she lets her put her arm around her shoulder.
Focusing on her question is good. She’s going to do that.
“Most spellcasting in my world requires different components in order to cast. Verbal, somatic, and material. Spells don’t necessarily need all three. It depends on the spell. But verbal and somatic are noticeable components, that you can see and hear the spellcaster use. You can’t really sense magic being used, though.” A pause, then she adds. “There’s a spell to be able to detect magic, although that’s more to see objects and creatures that bear magic.”
no subject
She will continue their walkthrough of the house as they talk, taking a moment to pause and check out each room as they go, "So then... we could only know if we saw them cast the spell?" she's just trying to follow, and this is pretty well outside of her general realm of understanding. Magic might, to some extent, exist in her world– the Asgardians and Scarlet Witch do come to mind– but it's never been part of Yelena's life at all. No need to study up on that when she was doing the dirty work behind the scenes, usually involved with more politically or similarly minded types. Assassins and magic? Not so common a cross-over, actually.
She peeks into bedrooms as they walk through halls, "So, if there are magical recording devices, that detection spell could possibly pick up on it, yes? Would you be able to do it?" Or is her knowledge more strictly of the academic sort? These would be good things to know.
swoops in late to the party to ramble about.
At least he's familiar with Yelena and even though they spent a short time together, his senses tell him that she's more trustworthy than not. He also knows that she's skilled. Thankfully. The young girl named Cass -- Dick wonders if that's the one that she asked Dick to keep an eye out for in the labyrinth.
As for the rest, he agrees that they are probably meant to share a room. He's not so worried about it. He's shared plenty of rooms over time with people. They can play whatever role is carved out for them. Moving along through the house, Dick keeps his eyes open. He too believes that there's very little they can do to keep out of the watchful eyes of the powers that be, but he's always kept his eyes open for every sort of tech he knows of. Fingers travel over surfaces, above and below as they move.
Listening carefully to the questions Yelena is asking, Dick is fascinated by the answers that the young girl gives. There's a wealth of wisdom in her young eyes. He recognizes the eyes of one who has lived through too much already, because he's seen them reflected not only in the eyes of others, but in the mirror itself.
"It would be rather helpful to have eyes on both fronts. I'm good with technical pursuits, and will be able to keep an eye out that way. If you are able to reach out magically, it would be a terrific help. Although, it's completely understandable if you don't feel comfortable enough to do it. This is hardly any normal situation, and living with strangers isn't easy for any one here, I imagine.
\o/
Cassandra hesitates, at Dick’s words. Despite her best attempts to hide it. She hasn’t used what spells she has in… a long time. She hasn’t dared. Not that that mattered much. Because she hasn’t wanted to touch it. Magic has felt… wrong. So very, very wrong. Because of the Briarwoods. It’s… besmirched. After everything they’ve done. Everything she’s witnessed. Everything she’s suffered.
But it’s something she can DO, here. It means she can be useful, for more than just the other wealth of roguish skills her mother had taken care to teach her from the moment she first learned to walk, as has come to use as easily as breathing. She nods, answering them both. “I can.”
And she doesn’t mean to add more. Doesn’t mean to say anything, but this whole situation has her… distinctly uneasy. So she adds, she can’t help but add, “This isn’t my first time.” Living with strangers, she means. “I think I prefer this, honestly.” Not the entire situation. But the situation in this house. These strangers. She might not know any of them well, save for perhaps Yelena, and even then she doesn’t know her that well, yet. But she’s almost certain that none of them will hurt her. None of them will torment her. Torture her. Or feed on her. (Her scars are well hidden, now. Beneath sweater and cowl neckline. Always higher necked pieces of clothing.)
She’s far safer here than she’s been in Whitestone in… years.
no subject
Technically one could argue that this mission seemed more doable and had some level of familiarity for people but she didn't fall into that category. She would much rather be dealing with fighting monsters or other people any day of the week because as she walks through the streets, the seemingly picture perfect houses were way too eerily normal and not just because it isn't what she is used to.
Octavia doesn't have too much on her aside from her sword at her hip and a backpack she carries over her shoulder but as she steps foot inside, she does marvel at the interior slightly because while she may have seen the inside of an apartment that is way different than being in a house which happens to be a first for her. She is listening and partially paying attention to the conversation but does speak up "We're already being watched in Etraya so that part might not be much different here either. It's not my expertise for something I can help with much but yeah it could be worth a try to see if anything can be detected magically or otherwise"
no subject
Octavia has been mostly quiet, but it isn't so unusual for what experience Yelena's had with her so far, she's not an overly chatty sort of person. "True enough," she nods her agreement. "It feels like they might take it much more seriously here, keeping eyes on us." Maybe that's just the spy-assassin paranoia talking.