tushanshu_logs | [OPEN] The sun just touched the morning...

Entry tags:

[OPEN] The sun just touched the morning...

Characters: Bakura / Elizabeth / Jack + YOU
Date: April
Location: Jade Dojo; Midnight Hotel; Welcome Center; others
Situation: Catch all
Warnings/Rating: N/A

A. BAKURA - Jade Dojo (Wood Sector)

With the weather steadily improving, especially with the rain tapering off to only being intermittent, Bakura's preference for being outside was showing itself more often. It wasn't unusual to find him sitting on the wooden-planked veranda that ran around the perimeter of the building. Sometimes he appeared to be asleep, leaning up against one of the vertical columns with his eyes closed in a patch of sunlight, and other times he was reading through a book (slowly, but determinedly) written in one of the more popular kedanese dialects.

(Almost never did he give off the impression that he was the Dojo's owner. The fact that more than one person stopped to warn him that the Dojo's aforementioned owner disliked loitering and that Bakura would likely get in trouble for it was an endless source of amusement for him.)

B. BAKURA + DIABOUND - Outside Keeliai

Although Diabound had arrived in his initial small form, Bakura knew the ka was capable of much more. While there wasn't any immediate need for Diabound to shift to a more battle-capable state at the moment, the thief also didn't want to wait until a situation arose where such a thing was needed to discover whether it was possible.

He'd moved well outside the city's walled border for this, keeping away from the bustle of the farming fields to an area that was rocky and therefore not under agricultural development, but still within sight of the wall. Diabound coiled in front of him, watching with evident amusement as Bakura pondered how to initiate some kind of transformation for the ka.

C. ELIZABETH - Any Sector

She normally woke early, both out of habit and because she liked to get an early start on her day's deliveries for the Hotel. But for some reason, she'd slept in hours later than normal, and at midday she was rushing around trying to get things organized.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, almost bowling someone over as she exited one of her regular delivery stores. "I'm sorry, that was my fault. Are you all right?"

D. ELIZABETH - House Spicy Iron Dragon (Sky); closed to PEPPER

The redhead had offered to demonstrate a type of magic that Elizabeth had never heard of (she'd technically only heard of any magic in stories, such fanciful things just weren't real at home) but the way she'd described this variant seemed absolutely fascinating. Things had gotten pushed back slightly due to things in the city which had taken precedence.

Having been given the address in the Sky Sector, Elizabeth arrives on the designated morning and knocks energetically at their front door. "Good morning, Pepper!"

E. JACK - Any Sector

This whole Guilds thing... well, he'd been here during Eshai's rule, and for Evandau's... while he'd missed the three Families taking over, he couldn't figure that dispersing the authority in the city across more of its population could be bad. But he did want to get people's opinions of it on a more personal level as opposed to just the public front people might feel obligated to show.

So he might bring it up in casual conversation, sometimes smoothly segued too (sometimes not): "Hey... any thoughts on this Guild thing yet?"

F. JACK - Rooftops - closed to DANNY;

He didn't actually need sleep -- and he tended to dispense with it when he was busy or simply absent-minded. Or, in the case of this evening, when he just had too much on his mind and needed something to occupy him while he puzzled it out.

He didn't usually have to worry about much in the way of air traffic, so he was not expecting to almost collide with someone midair. "Whoa! Sorry there..."

G. JACK - Keeliai - closed to ZATANNA;

The first few days back had felt... not awkward, but if the intervening 15 months had been less a measure of time and more a measure of separation. It was worse, Jack thought, that he hadn't come back with the same span of time. Even if he'd gone back to his world, and lost the memories of being in Keeliai (a thought which filled him with no less dread than it had prior), at least he would have been able to better process that gap.

Instead, he'd lost the time in what felt like the span between two non-existent heartbeats, and the difference was altogether more startling in its suddenness.

Zatanna kept assuring him it was all right. Once the initial shock had passed, of course.

Today, they were going to hit the city together, getting reacquainted with it as with themselves.

Z. WILDCARD

Hit me with anything that doesn't fit in the above starters!

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As one of the larger and more well-known training establishments in the city, the Jade Dojo drew its share of patrons with all kinds of temperaments. While the instructors kept the majority of things orderly (that was, after all, half of what he paid them for -- to do the running of the dojo so he didn't have to), there were inevitably times where none of his employees were present and people attempted to take advantage of that. By and large the contentions were minor, occasionally settled by a punch or one of the troublemakers stomping out.

No one's quite sure what happened or what initiated it, but obviously the status quo's definitely breaking today, as Bakura looks absolutely furious and has one of the normally rowdier patrons -- a stocky female kedan named Chesala -- pinned to the wall by the throat.

Pepper's outside on the veranda taking a short break when she hears noises of a scuffle inside - that's not unusual, at a dojo, where people come there to fight, but something about it is different. The raised voices, for one.

She pokes her head back in to see what's going on, and immediately it feels like ice has been dropped into her stomach. Bakura keeps the peace how he has to, but this-- this is not right.

"Bakura--!" The redhead darts across the dojo floor, stopping a few feet from the opposing pair with her hands held up. "Bakura, stop. Let her go."

"Stay out of it," Bakura snarled at Pepper, not looking over at her as Chesala wheezes in his grip, the wind temporarily knocked out of her. "She thinks she can threaten me and mine and get away with it! I'll make an example of her."

"I didn't do anything!" Chesala refuted with a croak, kicking out at him ineffectually.

Other kedan in the room are riling, and a few are gripping their practice weaponry and looking like they're seconds away from taking a few swings at the thief to break his hold.

Things are about to go south very quickly.

There's no mistaking the tension in the room, and Pepper glances around at the kedan. "Everybody-- everybody just take a breath," she ordered, trying to keep the nervous tremor out of her voice.

Vee, be ready to move.

"Bakura," Pepper said slowly, inching forward until she's within arm's reach. "This isn't the way to deal with her, whatever she did." Or didn't do. She knows that he has a temper, and that he'll act out to protect his family, but Chesala's insistence isn't to be disregarded. "Look at me, Bakura."

The encroaching kedan seem caught in indecision: Pepper is recognized both as an authority in the KPD and an authority in the dojo itself, but they also want to protect their own, and her intervention doesn't seem to be moving quickly enough for them.

Bakura indirectly complies with Pepper's request when he shoots her a dark glower, but there's something not quite right about it. There is anger, definitely, but there's also an odd kind of imprecision that's not characteristic of him at all. As if his anger is being pulled together from too many sources, rather than the razor focus it normally has, especially when it comes to his ghosts.

"I said stay out of this."

A frown forms at Pepper's brow when Bakura glares at her - it's not the sharp gaze she's used to when he's reactive about his family. Something is wrong.

Better he direct that anger at her than the kedan. "I won't," she replied firmly, putting a hand on his arm. "And if you don't let her go right now, then you're going to have to deal with me."

She really, really doesn't want to fight with him, but she will if she has to.

At the same time that Pepper set her hand on his arm, two things happened: the spires on the Ring began to quiver under their own power, and one of the kedan behind the pair decided this had gone on long enough and swung his quarterstaff at Bakura.

The thief pivoted, pulling Chesala out of being pinned and thrusting her into the path of the staff instead. Diabound, reacting to its master's (untrue, but believed) perception of being attacked, rose into being in the center of the dojo floor in full second form.

Edited 2017-04-20 21:35 (UTC)

It happens almost too fast to think, and suddenly Diabound is there and Pepper just moves. Her first thought is to restrain Bakura, and since he's turned to throw Chesala aside, she grabs at his arms to pull them behind his back and get him into a hold.

Without needing to be commanded verbally, Vee appears too, but keeps her swords sheathed. Rather, the ka starts trying to usher everyone else out of the dojo - less people can only be a good thing, here, and her glare is clear instruction that anyone who raises another weapon will have to deal with the Knight.

"Please, calm down," Pepper asked. "This isn't you."

For a few seconds it seems like he wasn't going to resist further... until his head rocks back and collides with hers, breaking the hold. It doesn't get much farther than that however, as suddenly Diabound is a wall of white scales between the two, separating them. Not attacking, nor defending, simply keeping them apart.

The rest of the kedan, ushered by the ten foot Nordic woman, have exited the dojo. At least a few of them are definitely heading toward the nearest place a KPD officer can be found.

Now unrestrained, Bakura's not in purely reactive mode. "What are you talking about, 'this isn't me'?"

Lights pop in front of Pepper's eyes when Bakura slams his head into hers, and she cries out, startled. It's only when she stumbles back that she processes that she released him, a hand coming up to cover her cheek. There's a coppery taste in her mouth from where she bit the inside of it.

Rather than answer immediately, she looks around, glad to see that the dojo has been effectively emptied. Chesala's probably going to need medical attention. Vee shifts warily, and Pepper holds her other hand up to halt her approach.

"Oh, I don't know, nearly choking someone? Usually there's a step or two before that when someone is getting rowdy," Pepper pointed out. Diabound between them doesn't scare her, and maybe it should, but adrenaline has a way of blocking out fear. "And you don't usually do the whole unfocused anger thing. Especially not about your family. Ow," she hissed, wincing.

"Unfocused?!," he snapped. "There's nothing unfo--"

And only then did he seem to realize that his ka was between them, and not in the condensed form it had been in earlier, and oddly it let the wind out of his sails, so to speak.

For a moment, he seemed confused, as if the now-empty dojo had snuck up on him. "I'm not unfocused," Bakura repeated.

The pause and the confusion made it easier for Pepper to be less annoyed with the bruise that would be blooming across her face soon. Something was very definitely wrong with him, and that was more concerning than almost anything else.

"Okay," Pepper allowed, quieter. "Then can you tell me what just happened? Or at least why?"

"I told you," he scowled. "She threatened my ghosts. Was talking about some kind of thing to banish evil spirits in the city because of all that ill luck over at the greenhouses. And when I told her to knock it off, she started mouthing back and saying that I didn't know what it was like to have my hard work undone."

Which, Chesala couldn't have known, was definitely a point not to drill too hard with Bakura. Still, they both knew the kedan didn't possess any inherent magic, certainly not the strength of which to affect spirits, so the reaction was still disproportionate.

He turned, obviously intent on heading for the office and his apartment beyond, only to find Vee there. "Get out of my way, itykharet, or I will move you."

Pepper knew as well as anyone that that was the wrong thing for Chesala to say to Bakura, but it's not as though the kedan could have acted on it.

"Okay, okay," Pepper said, mostly to herself. She started to edge her way around Diabound slowly, hands raised slightly and palms open. Vee remained where she was, but didn't reach for a weapon, either. "So, she definitely said something she shouldn't have - but when I said something I shouldn't have about the ghosts, you didn't try to choke me, and I even probably knew better. Chesala didn't."

Her expression and her tone were mostly of concern, but she was firm.

"And maybe I deserved the headbutt, but normally you'd be more worried about hitting me that hard," she added.

Diabound didn't make any move to prevent Pepper from moving; it seems the ka's focus had been in making sure they didn't exchange blows, although the serpent head keeps a close eye on both of them, tongue flicking out periodically as if tasting the tension in the air.

"Are you retroactively asking to be struck for that?" Bakura rolled his eyes, although at least it was clear that wasn't an actual threat so much as sarcasm. "And yet you ask for that and for me to coddle you in the same breath? Don't restrain me, you should know better."

When Vee didn't move, his gaze darkened and then suddenly there was pressure in her head, invading her sense, compelling her to stand aside.

"No, I'm saying that you went further than you usually do for someone making a stupid, ignorant comment," Pepper argued.

There was more she wanted to say when she felt the compulsion through her bond with Vee, a force trying to overwhelm the Knight's control, and Pepper inhaled sharply. The ka resisted as she was able, until Pepper shook her head. Resisting could only lead to a fight, and much as she didn't want to allow the invasion, battling each other would solve nothing. The fact that Bakura was even trying to exert his will over Vee was startling and only made her more worried.

A few tense seconds, and the Knight stepped aside, scowling.

"Bakura..." Pepper shivered. "I'm sorry I tried to hold you back. I'm not sorry I tried to stop you from hurting someone. You are not acting like yourself, and I'm worried, okay? I'm worried about you. You have never tried to force me, or Vee, to do anything, ever, so why did you just do that to her? Can you please just stop and think about it for a moment? Because I thought it would take a lot more to push you into coercing a piece of my soul," she said, eyes blazing as she came up to him.

"Did you not just hear me telling her to move or I would move her," Bakura snapped, glaring hard at Pepper. "You are the one not acting like herself, and become a nag when I wasn't looking. Shemkhati--!"

And yet...

There's something in her insistence that's finally seeming to register, however slow and disjointed. The low-level twinge of a headache had been getting stronger the whole day, but it seemed to be peaking now. Was he being more ill-tempered than usual? His mind kept saying no, and yet it didn't feel quite right.

Up close, Pepper could note there are physical tells to there being something amiss. His eyes are reddened, pupils enlarged, and hints of a rash along the backs of his hands.

"Yeah," Pepper said quietly, suddenly looking a little like she'd been slapped. "Yeah, I heard you."

Ironically, the words seemed to hurt more than the blow had, even as she reminded herself that there was something very off with Bakura and he almost certainly didn't mean that. Probably. She was close enough to see physical symptoms, too, which actually alleviated some of the desperate worry that this might be related to getting Diabound back and replaced it with worry about not knowing what was happening.

"Look at your hands, please. And then maybe go find a mirror. You don't look so good," she continued softly after a moment, and reached up to check his forehead for a fever before stopping herself partway, remembering his ire again. "Just-- will you trust me on this one? Please? Because I'm only trying to take care of you. That's-- that's all I want to do here."

"My hands?" Bakura echoed, eyes narrowing slightly, trying to figure out where that seemingly unrelated comment had come from. But he does look, and sees what she's talking about, though fails in this state to see the relevance.

"What of it?" he said irritably, moving again for the doorway to the apartment. "I bought new fruits yesterday, and it seems I'm allergic to them. That is what you're so concerned about?"

"I think you might be sick, actually," Pepper told him, following a pace behind him. "And yeah, I'm concerned; that's kind of part of the girlfriend job description. Even if it is just an allergic reaction--" Definitely not an allergy. "--those can be serious. Whatever it is that's going on, would you at least be willing to go see Raine? She can probably make you feel a whole lot better."

If he said no, then Pepper was probably going to camp out at the dojo and call Raine here anyway. It would be ideal if Bakura went to the Healers Guild of his own volition, however.

The fact that the dojo was empty now, ironically, was helping. He hadn't realized it at the time but the constant noise had been exacerbating the headache he'd had, and the way he felt far more on edge than he normally did in this space, being his.

And Diabound-- Diabound had found its second form, not intentionally, but because it had moved to keep he and Pepper apart. Concerned.

"Just-- will you trust me on this one? Please?"

Bakura passed his hand in front of his eyes, wincing slightly. Perhaps Pepper was right, he didn't feel the best at the moment. Diabound's bulk shimmered briefly like a heatwave and then disappeared.

"Aa. Fine, we can go."

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[OPEN] The sun just touched the morning...

closed; a few days into the sabotage event

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