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!)

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By now, Cain had gotten Yorda her own room and his time was his own to spend. Although he had work at the Hotel and some odd jobs around the city, sometimes he found himself simply finding a quiet spot of time to read and catch up on everything going on. He'd... settled, since the experiment with Valdis and then the explosion, and had centered himself. Found another focus what with the concerned of the College kedan in relation to the salt and its pyrotechnic properties.

He glanced up when he heard someone at the door, then kicked his feet off the corner of his desk and went to open it. His visitor was unexpected but not particularly surprising. She probably had some things to talk out considering. "Hi, Pepper," he said, head tilting ever so to the side.

Pepper doesn't have to wait long for the door to open. Even though she had seen his recovery with her own eyes, it was still a little hard to believe that he could be alive, much less upright, after what had happened.

"Hi," she echoes with a small smile. "Am I interrupting anything? I kind of wanted to talk to you about, you know, what happened the other day."

In answer to her question, Cain merely stepped aside and gestured for her to come in if she wanted. His own health was nothing but completely normal to him, a given and something he had come to accept. At one point he had been guilty for it, then angry and despondent, and now it simply... was. It wasn't a question.

"No, I was just catching up on some reading," he said with a shrug. Nothing he wouldn't have time for later. "You've got questions, right? Shoot."

Pepper steps into the room at Cain's invitation, taking a few seconds to assess the surroundings like she usually did.

"Yeah, a lot of them, starting with the whole immortality thing," she begins, turning back to look at him. "Is that something that just happened one day or we're you born with it or what? And how old are you, really? I swear half the Foreigners here don't even remotely look their age and it's seriously confusing. And I know you're not, like, hurt anymore or anything but are you okay?"

Old or not, getting blown up was not something to be taken lightly, and age doesn't guarantee calmness and ease in the aftermath.

When she entered, Cain motioned for her to take a seat if she felt like it. There was a chair at the desk, one folded up against the wall next to it, and the bed in the corner. Some trinkets and doodads had found their way into the room over his time here and books were the plentiful. Many of them were in kedanese rather than English or any earth language, but there was some of those sprinkled in as well.

He took a seat at the edge of the bed himself, seeming rather comfortable despite all of the questions being lobbed at him. It wasn't anything unexpected, not in the slightest, and he tilted his head in consideration of which to answer first. "I'm a decade shy of twenty-eight hundred," he said first. "Just happened one day, after a traumatic event. Callous as it sounds, I'm perfectly fine. It wasn't even up there for pain or shock factor, sorry to say."

The chair at the desk seems like the best option, and she shifts it slightly so it's angled to face Cain before she sits. The room is fairly neat and the number of books speaks to an interest in learning. Probably not unexpected from a man who is almost twenty-eight hundred years old. She looks a little shocked at the admission, but Bakura still has him beat, technically speaking.

"But you are human, right?" She'd been wrong about that before. Pepper shakes her head - getting maimed wasn't something anyone should ever get used to. "That's kind of awful."

Her lips thin for a moment, and she sighs.

"Thank you for... protecting me. I appreciate that a lot. But even though you've got super-healing and immortality or whatever, that doesn't mean you have to put yourself through that kind of pain. You didn't have to. I mean, I get the whole protecting people thing, that's what I do back home, but... you really shouldn't be used to this sort of thing. I would've been fine," she insists.

"I'm human as could be," Cain said. That much was definitely certain. For all that his circumstance and bad luck had given him, there was nothing actually wrong with his DNA. Just something extra about him that made it impossible to stay dead, impossible to be like any other human out there. Bakura did have him beat on the technicality, but Cain was pretty sure he was still the one with the most life experiences on the turtle much less back home.

Her words were sweet. She was feeling guilty or responsible or altruistic or whatever else was the natural reaction to someone essentially taking a bullet for you, no matter how protected they themselves were in the act. That was human nature. Cain shifted to lean forward, resting his forearms on his legs and threading his fingers together. "Whether I should or should not be used to it, the fact of the matter is that you're not. Unless you're hiding something equally as big as immortality in which case I'll concede, but I'm going to go ahead and say I doubt it," he said thoughtfully, playfully. "Frankly, Pepper, you would have been dead or worse, and if you feel like arguing that there are people who can heal that or who come back from it..."

He sighed, shook his head. "Besides. You're a friend to me, and I've had daughters who have died around your age. Younger. Older. Around. All ages, actually," he added, a bit wry and a bit sad. "You learn to stop ignoring the protective instincts when there's no real danger to yourself for making sure someone else is okay. No, it's not psychologically healthy, but existing this long isn't, either. Might as well make use of it. Pain isn't so bad in return."

It was impossible to listen to what he was telling her without feeling sadness - immortality seems nice on the surface but it also means lifetime after lifetime of losing people, even for mundane reasons. That Cain is as sane as he is must be some kind of miracle, although doubtless there are a lot of hidden mental scars that he has to carry. She shifts in her seat and reaches into her bag.

"I don't have something quite as good as immortality for that kind of thing, but I wouldn't have gotten hurt. I'm going to invite a friend in to prove it to you, if that's okay," Pepper says firmly. She pulls a card from her bag and holds it between her index and middle finger. "May I?"

Although he was the one living it, Cain understood the overall reaction that other people had when it came to... well, him. Hard not to notice the looks or hear the words of pity or anything like that. He wasn't one to hide himself unduly from those who might have reason or need to know about his unique lot in life, but it did get a bit samey, bland, maybe too recognizable. This wasn't exactly something any human being was equipped to deal with on either side.

"Permission granted, but that's a card," Cain said simply, assessing the drawing and stats on it. He knew that she knew what she was holding, that wasn't the issue. He simply didn't know where she could be going with what looked like some kind of Magic ripoff piece. Was she saying she literally had an ace up her sleeve in a really roundabout way?

Despite any heaviness to the conversation, Pepper can't help but smile a little slyly.

"Yes, it's a card." Her eyes look unfocused for a second, and in a brief whirl of shadows the creature depicted on it appears, kneeling by her side. "But she's not."

The Valkyrian Knight would be over ten feet tall were she to stand, fully clad in armor and with a sheathed sword appropriate to her size. She looks at Cain with an expression of faint interest.

"Jacob, this is Vee. It's her job to protect me."

Cain didn't startle. He had a lifetime's worth of experience in holding back his reactions as necessary and even becoming used to the strangest of mundane things. This was... this was entirely outside of his experience, to be fair, but he didn't freak out. His brow knit and his head tilted and he examined 'Vee' with a rather critical eye hidden behind a passive gaze.

"So," he said after a moment of what appeared to be a mutual once-over. "That's cool. How'd you do that? How did... she do that? Who is doing what, actually?"

That Cain remains completely calm is simultaneously impressive and mildly disappointing, but he's seen quite a lot, hasn't he? Pepper pulls the Duelist gauntlet and a few more cards out of her bag as well.

"Super cool. It's a new skill; Bakura has been teaching me summoning shadow creatures using his own magic but Vee showed up when this thing did," Pepper explains, waving the gauntlet before fanning out the cards. "It lets me summon shadow creatures like these."

I am bound to the Lady, and thus I am always present, in a way, the Knight rumbles mentally, testing to see if Cain can hear her.

"Vee is kind of part of my soul or something, or at least tied to it somehow, so she can basically poof in whenever I want her to," Pepper adds.

Shifting to get a better look at everything Pepper was pulling out, his attention was grabbed at the voice in his head seemingly coming from the gigantic valkyrie right next to her. His gaze cut to Vee and he found himself rather impressed at the general ability she was displaying. "Present enough to have been able to react to an explosion?" he asked.

It was aimed at both of them, but he had a hunch there was something more going on here. Impressive as all of this was, he still didn't seem the least bit contrite about what he had already done. Not even that, but he would likely end up doing it again simply because the instinct would win over reason in such a short time span anyway. "Either way, that's convenient."

Of course, the Knight answers in what might be a mildly offended tone. That I did not was a choice.

Pepper glances at her ka; Bakura had been rather displeased with that choice and Vee didn't appreciate getting berated by him. Cain isn't trying to needle the creature, it seems, but it's hit something of a nerve.

"It's not like you could have known about her ahead of time, obviously, and I do seriously appreciate what you did, like a lot, but if it ever comes up again and you have to make a choice between protecting me and someone else, pick the other person. Please," she requests.

For the reaction, Cain merely offered Vee a smile. It was good to see what whatever she was, whatever her life and priorities were if she had any outside of this existence, Pepper had someone to protect her. It did certainly make any future incidents easier.

He glanced to Pepper and nodded. "I understand that now," he said slowly. "However, like I said, it's not exactly easy to fight instinct and can be counterproductive. If there's someone else in reach, I'll probably go for them first but I can't guarantee if it's just us, I won't snipe Vee's job again."

Said as an obvious joke, he inclined his head toward the knight. He could respect what she did and would have done, no matter how much her existence was outside of his depth. "From now on, I'll ignore your safety for the safety of others on the assumption that you two have it handled." Shifting to hold out a hand, he asked, "Deal?"

Edited 2016-02-14 08:07 (UTC)

Laughing quietly at Cain's joke, Pepper takes the offered hand. "Deal. I know things can get pretty crazy around here and most of the time just acting is what happens," she acknowledges. "Hopefully the next time anyone even has to think about it I'll be wearing armor so it won't even remotely be a problem."

If such a situation were to arise again, I will endeavor to protect those who would protect the Lady, Vee adds, mirroring Cain's nod.

"Protecting the Duelist is like the only priority for shadow creatures, and that goes double for kaa like Vee," Pepper elaborates as she slides the cards back into her bag along with the gauntlet. "We're still figuring out how everything works outside the setting of a Duel."

After shaking Pepper's hand, Cain shifted to offer it to the knight beside her. She seemed perfectly independent enough even if she was bound to Pepper in some mysterious and magical way that still had a ring of wrong plastered all over his psyche. That was his own issue, it seemed, and he was in the process of coping with the fundamental differences between his own world and the rules of this one.

Her mention of Bakura earlier got his mind spinning at the mention of ka. His brain rooted around briefly for the meaning rattled around in his rusty dictionary of Egyptian terms — it had been a while since he'd kept up on that language, although he had definitely learned it once upon a time — and came up with what he was looking for. "A shadow creature you're calling your spirit?"

Without hesitation, the Knight extends her hand as well, a hint of a smile ghosting her lips. She is almost entirely independent, both by nature and by choice - Pepper avoids giving her orders outside of a duel setting.

"Um, not exactly. Vee is, like, a part of my soul or whatever," she elaborates as best she can. The idea of actually having a soul is still a little strange, but if the rest of her soul is as awesome as Vee, she can live with that. "She's more like a reflection - that's how Bakura described it and he's kind of the resident expert. Do you know a lot about Egyptian theology?"

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Here we are, don't turn away now

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