the cruelest month | open, with starters

[wrathfulkhan]

Characters: Gene Khan, Jackie Ma, Deon Wilson, and YOU!
Date: Throughout April
Location: Keeliai and the surrounding environs
Situation: Two three Asian men with perfect hair, remarkable eyebrows, and gang connections, and what all they get up to during the month.
Warnings/Rating: None initially, but subject to change.

A. [Gene] Healers' Guild | late March | open

After being mauled by Valdis, Gene's been healing on and off with Katara's help. He'd come very close to death, so he was penned in the Healers' Guild under pain of severe scolding.

That, and he can't move too much without pain, so if you want to corner him, now's your chance.

B. [Gene] Midnight Hotel | April 8 | closed to Tony

Gene's gone back up to their room after his utterly failed attempt to do something nice, and he's been sitting at the table for three-quarters of an hour, his head in his hands, stewing. What Akito said had really hurt him. Good for Akito that he could overcome his past trauma just with a smile and some fucking fairy dust, or however the shit he'd done it. The legacy of Gene's criminal past had imprinted itself on him too deeply to ever go away by thinking happy thoughts. The scars were there, permanently so, and he's beginning to wonder if it's even worth the effort to try.

C. [Jackie] Midnight Hotel, kitchen | April 14 | closed to Genis

Jackie'd been keeping an eye out for Raine's little bro, and he's even been trying out his skills in the kitchen a little himself. He can actually make some food that isn't burned on one side and frozen on the other, so he's quite pleased with himself. But today, Genis was going to try the holy grail: pork buns. Or at least, the closest they can come in Keeliai.

"Hey, little dude, what's up?"

D. [Jackie] Teahouse in the Water Sector | early-mid April | open

When he's not doing Snake stuff, Jackie's become quite fond of hanging out in a little teahouse in the Water Sector. Most of the time he has his Snake badge off, not wanting to intimidate any of the kedan, and just enjoying a quiet cup of tea. Tea had never really been his...well...his cup of tea, back home, but here he was starting to enjoy it.

E. [Deon] Midnight Hotel, lobby | April 13 | closed to Valdis

Once Deon's on the mend, he gets the name from Raine of the wolf-woman who'd found him in the alley, and where he might find her. It's only polite to go thank someone who's saved your life, right? He finds himself in the lobby of the Midnight Hotel, looking for the woman who'd appeared to him. Or for a giant wolf. The one's more obvious than the other.

F. [Deon] Stark Industries | April 15 | open

Deon had been pointed towards Stark Industries when he'd asked about employment for an engineer; he didn't have many other skills, and Anton had politely but firmly asked him not to attempt cooking for the Hotel again. (There's a reason his culinary skills extend to Pot Noodle and straight-up just going to Nando's instead of cooking. His diet is 90% Red Bull. It is a miracle this man does not have scurvy, or rickets, or something.)

Also, he needed parts if he was going to build anything like Dexter to pick up after him and bring him his Red Bull. Or the local equivalent.

So he's standing around in the lobby, fidgeting, waiting to be summoned by the receptionist to see when he could speak with Zanru or anyone else. But he wouldn't pass up conversation, either. He's only a little socially inept that's a lie and only a little devoid of common sense oh that was an even bigger lie!.

G. [Deon] Marketplace | April 16 | open

Deon has spent enough time in Joburg shopping the market stalls to know when he's getting taken for a ride; it's some small comfort that this, at least, is familiar.

"Okay, well, what about-- what about five juulan, eh? Come on, I'm doing you a favor here, it's barely worth four."

He says, as if he knows anything about the local economy. But he sees something of use in the busted scrap of what used to be some form of technology, and he wants to take it home and mess with it.

H. [Gene] Midnight Hotel | April 15 | closed to Tony

Gene's been to the festival and returned with one very special souvenir. He'd spent some of his spare juulan on one of those captivating sea wisps, and has set it up on the table in the room he shares with Tony. He likes it, but he hears they're also good luck, something he's been lacking lately. Couldn't hurt to have it. He waits impatiently for Tony to return, fiddling with the plant.

I. [Gene] Dojo | early April | closed to Bakura

It was weird to be on friendly enough terms with the man you'd killed, but Gene had long since gotten over the weirdness. He needed to beat the shit out of something, and only a training dummy would do. Hopefully he'd avoid Bakura; he didn't want to have an awkward discussion or be spectated. But Tony was still too cautious of hurting him to spar now, and Gene had wanted to yell out that he wasn't made of glass.

He starts off slow, his movements practiced and deliberate, getting himself limber and warmed up before he starts attacking the dummy with ferocity and extreme prejudice. But he's still healing; he tires quicker than usual, and has to take a break for some water.

J. [Gene] Midnight Hotel, lobby | early April | closed to Katara

Gene really ought to thank Katara for healing him up, he figured - and he ought to do the same for Wan, but Wan was out camping, and he thought it best not to disturb Wan's privacy. If he was alone in the wild, it had to be because he wanted to be.

But that doesn't mean he can't thank the other bender who tended his wounds.

He spots Katara in the lobby. "Hey, Katara," he says, walking up to her.

K. [Gene] Water Sector | April 17 | closed to Raine

Fuck. Fuck!

God, this was the absolute worst timing - Howard shows up right when Gene tells Tony that-- gah!

So he's flown the coop, currently stewing in a park in the Water Sector and clearly very upset.

---

OOC Note: If you want another starter, please hit me up over at Chatvert and I'll pull something together for you! :>

Comments

A

[confirmationbias]

The first thing Sonja does when she finds out that Gene has been injured is to head down to the healer's guild, although she is denied access for the first days because of the intensity of Gene's injuries. By April, it seems he's good enough to have visitors.

Sonja knocks lightly on the door to Gene's room. She has a small bag with her.

"Hey, are you awake?"

[wrathfulkhan]

Gene has been chafing at the restrictions placed on him, but he had been hurt pretty badly, and he had lost a lot of blood. If not for Wan's triage, he would have died out in the fields and had to test out Milyn's skill at raising the dead, and that wasn't one of the skills he was particularly interested in learning about firsthand.

So when he hears the knock on the door and Sonja's voice, he frowns. He'd have preferred it if nobodu knew he was here, but trying to keep secrets in the Foreigner population is next to impossible, he knows.

"Yeah, come in."

[confirmationbias]

"Hi," Sonja said. She took a seat near the foot of the bed. Now that she was here, she wondered exactly what she planned to do? She barely even knew Gene. Maybe this had been a mistake. She remembered that she had something in her hands.

"I brought some incense. I don't know what scents you like, so I brought like five different kinds."

[wrathfulkhan]

Gene looked at her, a little surprised, and looked at the incense in her hands. "Oh. Uh. Thanks," he said, surprisingly touched by the gesture. He did enjoy lighting incense, from time to time. It was comforting; reminded him of some of the few good parts of his childhood.

"I guess it's not a secret that I'm here, huh?"

[confirmationbias]

"I'm not entirely sure how secret it is among most foreigners, it's just that there are only a handful of people I regularly talk to, and a good number of them were involved in this..." how do you even labels this? Fiasco? "...in some way."

Valdis was still in a coma. She was worried.

[wrathfulkhan]

"Oh." Yeah, if Gene's friends/acquaintances/allies, as few as any of the former and latter he could count, were in some sort of ridiculous blow-up like this, he'd be aching to get to the bottom of it, too.

"Do me a favor? Don't spread it around. I'm not worried about the Foreigners so much, but Yunxu and the rest..." He trailed off. Even in his sickbed he was considering his political options.

[confirmationbias]

"What do you think Yunxu would do if he knew you were sick? Or Zanru?" Honestly, Sonja doubted that he didn't already know. Posting a spy in the healer's guild was an obvious move.

[wrathfulkhan]

"I'm not exactly anxious to find out," he said dryly. "Nor am I anxious to show weakness. I wanted to go back to the Hotel, but they won't let me yet." And Tony, infuriatingly, was siding with the healers on that one.

[confirmationbias]

Hrm. Everyone had very dire expectations of Tu Yunxu, but no one was willing to actually say what he'd done or what they believed him capable of. It made it hard to take the reputation seriously. Sonja was quickly coming to the conclusion that it was more smoke and mirrors than reality - a mythos that Yunxu likely found advantageous and therefore cultivated.

"I'm not sure I understand. You don't want them to know you're human? People get hurt, its not news. What edifice are you afraid to show the cracks in?"

[wrathfulkhan]

Gene's reasons for distrusting Yunxu were a bit more...personal.

(Protip: He reminded Gene rather uncannily, in demeanor though not appearance, of his stepfather Zhang, the worst person ever to walk the planet. The fact that Yunxu was the leader of a criminal sect didn't hurt the comparison, either.)

"It's not that I mind them knowing I'm human. It's that I mind them knowing exactly when and where I'm vulnerable." Said in the slightly grumpy attitude of a child who wants to get his own way. "Death is a temporary affair here, though I'm certain not a pleasant one."

[confirmationbias]

Sonja smiled wryly. "I take it then that you've given them some reason to want you dead."

[wrathfulkhan]

"None more so than usual. Though I know Yunxu wasn't too happy with the outcome of the Palace talks." Yunxu could suck it up, though. It was best for Keeliai, and for the kedan.

"But I dislike being vulnerable in general, even if nobody is gunning for me."

[confirmationbias]

"I think you might have a problem with paranoia. And this is coming from an intelligence specialist."

[wrathfulkhan]

It's not paranoia if they really are out to get you, Sonja.

"I have been accused of being overly cautious," he admits, "but I look at it as a survival skill." You have to be a certain amount of paranoid to survive in the environment he'd grown up in.

[confirmationbias]

Lets not get into it too hard with the guy in a body cast, Sonja. But also-

"I guess it served you well enough to survive a hellhound attack."

You see what she did there?

[wrathfulkhan]

And just like that, he's on his guard again.

"If it had served me better, I wouldn't be here," he says, a little bitterly. "It seems I'd do well to exercise my caution a little more thoroughly."

[confirmationbias]

"Do you know why she attacked you?"

[wrathfulkhan]

"Apparently I vexed her," he says. "Not an uncommon occurrence. Though I hesitate to speculate any further. She did not seem to be herself."

[confirmationbias]

It wasn't much of a relief. Sonja wouldn't have thought the Valdis she knew capable of just snapping, but the idea that she could become something else at a moment's notice was the opposite of comforting.

"I think you should probably try to work on that vexing thing maybe?"

[wrathfulkhan]

Gene shrugs. "It's not like I do that on purpose. Apparently people find me abrasive."

Can't imagine why.

[confirmationbias]

"Hmm, I'm not sure if that's better than weird and awkward. Maybe we should form a club for the anti-social."

[wrathfulkhan]

"Wouldn't that seem to defeat the purpose?" he muses. "And - who was it, Oscar Wilde? - I think he had the right of it when he said he wouldn't want to join any club that would accept him as a member. I'm in agreement."

[confirmationbias]

"Ah, I wish I had your confidence," she said, with a touch of melancholy. "I spend a lot of time thinking about all the ways my life would be better without the constant march of mistakes I've made."

[wrathfulkhan]

Shh, Sonja, don't tell anyone, but he does that, too.

"I do, too. But I can't let that stop me moving forward." Hypocrite. "For example...I should have left Valdis sooner." And he gestures to his injuries.

[confirmationbias]

That was slightly comforting.

"Left her?"