Template:Featured Articles/8-2023

Moment of Awesome - Illyana Rasputina/Magik: Illyana Rasputin meets Artie Maddicks and they make a deal. Illyana hadn't become Queen by tripping and falling into the position. Or well. Maybe she had - just a little - when she locked Belasco away, even if she hadn't accepted the throne then. Still. Artie had the upper hand here, she couldn't just conjure the stupid notes people used for food here. "One favor, not deadly, will not kill demon currently running Limbo, hook anyone up with succubus or incubus, or sliver more of soul." She wasn't actually sure she could do that last bit, with Belasco stripped of magic. She wouldn't trust S'ym to do it, and Soulsword had hurt badly enough. She shoved the last of her sandwich in her mouth and turned to the fridge, coming up with a bottle of juice and a water. The juice she opened, the water she slid across the counter. "Wanda still here? If so, will answer questions from her. Canadian guy already asked about Olivier." Artie nodded, recalculating his assessment of her again. The unworldliness ... wasn't, was it? "Fair. The favour will not involve asking you to kill the demon running Limbo, an incubus or succubus or your soul. And I'm not offering enough to ask you to kill any human for me or for you to put yourself in mortal danger." He thought it was probably best to be clear on that. "If I need you to kill a person - or transport us to kill a person - that will be a different favour with different payment." He accepted the water and added, "Wanda is still here and I'll let her know you will answer questions." He smiled then. "Now, to payment. Is $500 cash and $150 weekly on a credit card for two months suitable?" Two grand wasn't really much in the scheme of things, not for this intel and paying it out weekly kept her in contact with them. "Is fine," Illyana said with a nod. She didn't have that many expenses and mostly only cared about clothing being clean and comfortable. She'd steal a shirt from her brother if necessary, wear it like a dress with a belt. Her current shirt was one of the few that had survived her stint through Limbo, and it'd been in one of the donation boxes at Muir when she arrived. "Not sure if I could actually kill human? Am small, sword is for magic, magic mostly good for finding." On this plane, at least. Well, maybe she could kill a human, but she'd need a different sword for that. Swords cost money, favors, materials, and time. So for now... "Would drop in Limbo for $500 and big dinner, maybe. Bring back in few hours." She wiped the peanut butter off the knife she'd used for sandwiches and sliced neatly into the meat of her palm, holding her hand and the hilt of the blade out at Artie expectantly. Artie blinked internally and accepted the knife. His hepatitis shots were up to date, probably. Ah, whatever, he'd go see Emma's doctor in the morning. There were going to be antibiotics in his future when the peanut butter started in on his blood stream. He sliced his hand, hissing out loud at the pain. God damn. Why did it always have to be hands, not like, the back of your arm or something that didn't hurt for days afterwards. He reached out and shook. Illyana felt the contract settle between them as their blood connected. "Would have used magic for contract, but..." she trailed off, trying to figure out the easiest way to talk about the inherent imbalances of power in magical contracts where only one of them had the quantity of magic to sustain and enforce the contract. "Very unfair to non-magical type. Blood is blood, hand is easy and least personal." Her stomach grumbled. She wiped the blood on a napkin and folded it away carefully, then grabbed an apple.