tushanshu_logs | Here we are, don't turn away now

Entry tags:

Here we are, don't turn away now

Characters: Pepper Potts, Gene Khan, Yami no Bakura, Valdis, Raine Sage, China Sorrows and you! Bring all the people.
Date: Throughout February
Location: Throughout Keeliai and also Tavimbi
Situation: Pepper is busy doing the clothes business and also possibly trying to build a new government for Keeliai. Whoops. Also shopping and exploring in Hatal.
Warnings/Rating: None yet, will be in specific headers.

A. Throughout February | Hatal - Reservoir Level | Open

Making landfall in Tavimbi was a complicated affair, but once they managed to anchor Tu Vishan, it was time to explore. Pepper was among the first to go through processing at the border, reminded of customs at an airport back home. The Causeway is interesting, but when she discovers that the Reservoir level is where she can find a lot of fabrics and textiles, she makes a point to explore with diligence, making note of prices and textures, as well as unique patterns that are particularly eye-catching. She can be found there fairly often throughout the month, getting to know some of the artisans and inquiring about the origin of patterns and the methods they use to weave and dye fabrics.

B. Backdated to January 30 | Midnight Hotel | Valdis

Pepper knows that when Foreigners die, they come back in a few days - at least most of the time. And whether or not she's been told that by several people on different occasions, and that Tony and Gene keep reassuring her that Valdis will be fine, the waiting was awful. Apparently Valdis shouldn't have been able to die in the first place, and Pepper is about as wound up as when Skul disappeared. She checks in at the Hotel every day to see if Valdis has come back, and as soon as she get's a 'yes' Pepper is sprinting up the stairs to the hellhound's room, knocking with impatience and worry.

C. February 10 | Hatal - Causeway Level | Bakura

It has not escaped Pepper's notice that Bakura is not exactly the most social of people, and while he's not a hermit or a shut-in, she thinks he could stand to get out more. Landfall on Tavimbi provides an excellent ~~excuse~~ opportunity to get him out and about, not to mention spend some time in a place that's a bit warmer than most of Keeliai. She also may or may not have chatted up a few possible sponsors at the Jagaiz rings on his behalf. In any case, she's bundled in her favorite winter coat (which had arrived courtesy of the strange Feather Gifter in December) when she gets to the dojo.

"I hope you have something warm to wear. We're going on an adventure," she announces.

D. February 12 | House Iron Dragon | Raine

There haven't been a lot of opportunities to expand the limits of Pepper's abilities with Duel Monsters, but having landed on Tavimbi and seen the Jagaiz rings, she's interested in pushing the boundaries of her skills. Even just being able to better coordinate with Vee in a turn-based structure of fighting would be advantageous. That being said, she also doesn't think jumping into the rings without practice is a good idea. Well, okay, she does think that, on one hand, but on the other hand magic is not like flying in the armor. Plus, practicing with Raine means Pepper will get to see some of the healer's magic, too, which is exciting in its own right.

The backyard of the house presents a good location to practice. It's cold outside, so she's bundled up, wearing mismatched gloves (since the Duelist gauntlet doesn't really fit underneath her normal pair) and a belt with a bag she's made to hold her deck on the outside of her coat.

E. February 1 | House Iron Dragon | Gene

Pepper may or may not have accidentally a government in her discussion with Tu Yunxu. While she has no plan to let his interest in the salt drop, his suggestion to create a new police force has stuck in her mind. Getting Tu Vishan beached at Tavimbi took a lot of her time, but now that they're there, Pepper intends to make good on her assurance that, along with a police force, Keeliai needs a new government. She's only been here for about nine months, and Gene has been here for three years, which means he knows the city a lot better than she does. That means he's going to be a good source of information, and he'll almost certainly be interested in getting this boulder rolling.

"Gene? I need to pick your brain," she says when she spots him in the kitchen.

F. February 11 | Hatal - Causeway Level | China

Pepper Potts Does Not Like China Sorrows. It could be the title of ragmag article, if they were in New York and both celebrities. She's consciously been avoiding the woman since their last encounter, but that doesn't mean Pepper hasn't been thinking about her particular set of skills and her role in Keeliai. Despite any dislike, Pepper also knows that China can be very useful (and manipulated herself, according to Solomon). Like any long-lived dragon, China operates towards her own self-interest, protecting the things she calls hers; that's something Pepper might be able to gently direct at the foundation of a government, if done carefully.

Which is why, when Pepper spots the unmistakable figure of the Irish mage perusing the wares that Hatal has to offer, that she doesn't immediately turn around and strategically retreat in the other direction.

"If I'd known you liked to shop I would have invited you to come with me some time," she says neutrally, appearing at China's side. The influence of her magic is still strong on Pepper, but she's prepared for it this time, and ready to resist as much as she can.

G. Backdated to January 31 | Midnight Hotel | Cain

Although Pepper was less worried about Cain, seeing as he hadn't actually died in that explosion, she hasn't forgotten about what he did. Generally speaking, she prefers to be the one rescuing people, but thanks are in order. As are a lot of questions, and a great deal of scolding. So, she's back at the Hotel the day after visiting with Valdis to take up some of his time. Rather than thunder up the stairs and beat upon his door like she had Valdis' the day prior, Pepper finds his room a knocks carefully.

(OOC Note: PM me or hit me up on plurk if you want a starter!)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

With all the excitement of docking the turtle, it seemed like business was receiving a significant enough boom. Junior's timing in looking for employment couldn't have been better, as he was proving himself quite quickly for being able to work under pressure and provide availability even when the tourists from Hatal proved rather curious of basically every establishment in Keeliai at one time or another.

That said, Junior was working at the counter of the bakery where he'd found a job, hair pulled back by a simple band to keep it out of the way and out of the food, when heard the sound of the bell above the door. That thing had been ringing far too much today and he was starting to get a little sick of it on principle, but he had some damn fine manners and looked up to greet the newcomer with a pleasant welcome. "Hey! How are you doing today?"

Given that Pepper spends a lot of time in the Wood Sector these days, she's taken it upon herself to find all the best places to eat. A bakery or a cafe should never go unexplored, and it didn't hurt that the aroma escaping this one was a powerful lure.

"I'm pretty good, thanks," she answers, mildly surprised by such an enthusiastic greeting. Not that people weren't nice around here, it just wasn't ubiquitous behavior, and always nice to find. "How about you? Things must be busy," she observes, glancing around. "You're new here, aren't you? I think I saw you on the network."

Did everyone actually watch that thing? It had felt like a shot in the dark when Junior tried it, although he'd been gratified to see several answers and had seen plenty of activity since. With the population of the city, however, it felt like it should have been some sort of abandoned message board or something. He would have to be a little more expectant about putting things out there in the future.

"That's right," he answered. It was meant to be a response to both statement and question, and he nodded while moving to collect payment from another patron and serve them before he turned back to her. "Oh! I'm doing fine, by the way. You asked."

Pepper watches the network for investigation purposes. Even if she doesn't respond to all of them, she does watch most of the video posts if they stay active. She's not a stalker, she swears.

"Seems like you've found a place to fit in already. That's good." She peers at some of the pastries on offer, considering them carefully. "Do you have a favorite yet? Pastry, I mean. Which ones did you make?"

Junior moved and motioned for her to come in closer, further along the counter so as to keep somewhat out of the way of the other customers perusing and passing from one end of the bakery to the other. He tilted his head, made a bit of a roundabout gesture with his hands, and then shrugged widely.

"I wouldn't pick favorites," he said with something of a grin. "The ones on this end are what I made today. We work down the counter-line here just so we know what's oldest at a glance."

Following his movement along the counter, Pepper glances down the rows of pastries as she comes level with him. She's been here long enough that she's starting to be familiar with the standard bakeries items, the same way that there are croissants and biscotti at most cafes on Earth, and she can identify a few.

"Well, they all look pretty good. Looks like you got comfortable with the recipes quickly." An expert might be able to tell the differences, but she's not that picky about the shape of her cookies. "Okay, how about this then - what's good for a sweet tooth?"

Junior shrugged for the question, a self-satisfied grin on his face. For someone who made this sort of thing their life's work, it wasn't hard to pick up new recipes or see what the new trends were in what was popular and how much to make. Even being here only a week or so had given him plenty of experience and knowledge to work with in order to pretend he could fit in. Fake it until you make it.

"Definitely this," he said, pointing down to what looked like a pastry. It wasn't the most normal of things, using a vegetable base rather than grain, but it added the weirdest, amazing compliment to the sugar and jam topping that he'd seen yet. "I like it. You should try it."

Pepper examines the pastry he's pointing at, leaning in a little closer. It certainly looks basically amazing.

"I'll take it," she says with a grin, and reaches into her bag to retrieve the necessary juulan. "Oh, I'm Pepper, by the way. Pepper Potts. You've probably heard this a lot already, but welcome to Keeliai."

For her enthusiastic agreement, Junior moved to grab a pair of tongs and retrieve on for her, pausing only momentarily. "Here or to go?" Even if she seemed to want a conversation, far be it from him to assume she actually wanted a conversation.

"Nothing wrong with hearing it again. Call me Junior," he introduced.

"For here," she affirms with a nod. It's fairly safe to assume that Pepper likes to talk. Okay, it's more like an ironclad guarantee, to be honest.

"I don't suppose your father looked like Sean Connery?" she jokes. When Pepper hears 'Junior' she tends to jump immediately to Indiana Jones. "Oh, wait, that might not make any sense to you at all. Are you from Earth? It's kind of hard to tell what references you won't get if you don't have pointy ears or turn into a giant hellhound."

With her confirmation, Junior moved to place the treat on the equivalent of wax paper and exchanged it for the currency. All fairly informal and definitely not something Junior disliked. The shops here had something of a more personal feel, like the way he tried to run his own place back home. It made things easier to sink into even if being surrounded by such weird and impossible things kept him from ever being totally relaxed.

"Ha," Junior said, a vague smile coming to his lips. "I know who you're talking about, but that was way before my time. Not sure I get the reference. There are people who turn into giant hellhounds here?"

Up close, the pastry looks even more delicious, which is impressive. She takes a moment to answer Junior before biting into it.

"He played Indiana Jones' father and he always calls him 'Junior' in a sort of embarrassing-Scottish-dad kind of way," Pepper elaborates. "And yes, but just one person. She's very nice, actually."

She nibbles on the edge of the treat, and grins in delight before taking a rather large bite.

"This is so good," she says. Or at least that's what she's trying to say, but her mouth is full of pastry and it comes out more as 'Iss iz tho good'.

Junior watched her, a bit more than slightly invested in her reaction. This whole thing was new to him, these new recipes in this new place with new people and crazy laws and magic and everything. It was a relief to see another human liking what he made just as much as he thought they should, and he grinned widely for the reaction.

"Glad you like it. I've heard of Indiana Jones, anyway, but that is old," he confirmed with a slight shrug. He was more interested and glad she was into the pastry, really. "It's just what I go by."

Nine months in Keeliai was not nearly long enough to try all the delicious foods on offer, and Pepper is more than happy to find another gem like this. She waits to speak again until it's polite to do so, grinning.

"It's a nice name," she remarks. "So, you're from future-Earth? For me, at least. What year? I came from 2012."

"Almost a hundred years completely in the future of that," Junior said, brows raised for the admission. Not as though he was about to go judging someone for being from The Past™, but that didn't make it any less weird. It was almost weirder than having someone simply from another world entirely. He still didn't know what to actually do about it other than nod and smile and try to process everything in private. "2106."

He leaned on the counter for lack of anywhere else to really keep himself. Business was busy but the sort where everyone was keeping to themselves enough for it to be a lull right now, and most people seemed a little less intimidated in general when he wasn't standing at his taller than average 6'3" self. "So I guess stuff like Indiana Jones and Titanic and things like that are more like current culture for you?"

"Wow. Do we have flying cars yet?" Because that was clearly the most important thing to know. She takes another bite of the pastry and it might just be better than the first. Definitely bringing people here in the future.

"Kind of," Pepper answers with a nod. "The first three Indiana Jones movies came out before I was born - we don't talk about the fourth one. And Titanic came out when I was young, but I've watched them all a bunch of times. The memes they produced are still alive and kicking, though."

"Still waiting on those," Junior answered with a shrug. He seemed a bit bemused that even people a hundred years ago were thinking about stuff like that, but he supposed they had imaginations just like everyone else and who didn't think about flying in as many ways as possible? Aside from people scared of heights. He was obviously pretty pleased by Pepper's enjoyment of his work. Definitely a point of pride with him.

"Makes sense." Nodding along, Junior slotted that all together in his head. History was never his best subject, but this was far more recent than other theoretical time periods and considering the frequency with which he was beginning to find people from that time, maybe he would need to brush up on it. "We've got our own stuff by now but I'm not what you might call culturally up-to-date. I leave that for experts. Are you?"

"Oh well." She doesn't sound very disappointed; after all, when you've got flying power armor flying cars didn't seem nearly as cool. "Less to compete with in the air, I guess."

Although dodging flying cars could be a lot of fun, now that she thinks about it.

"I don't know about 'expert' but I pay enough attention not to miss anything seriously important," Pepper answers. "Curious about the past?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Here we are, don't turn away now

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why does my username keep ending up in the subject line :/

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