City pulls me in closer than I've ever been | July Catchall

[lasergrenades]

Characters: Pepper Potts, Devin Parker, and you!
Date: Throughout July
Location: Around Keeliai
Situation: Pepper is getting settled after several busy and unpleasant months, and Devin is making dumb decisions.
Warnings/Rating: Violence, possibly blood.


A. [Pepper] KPD | Throughout July | Open

Things have at least started to settle down some in the city, so while Pepper is busy she's no longer stretched to the limit. Her schedule is more regular, and she's taking fewer night shifts this month to try and catch up on sleep. All in all, she's in a much better mood when she's at work, helped in no small part by mending fences with Valdis. The ship is righting itself, finally, but that makes her no less vigilant.

B. [Pepper] Sky Sector | Throughout July | Open

The heat and lack of rain aren't uncomfortable for Pepper - New York could get positively sweltering in the summer - and it's decent weather for practicing summoning in the backyard. She does usually wait until early evening, when the temperatures cool down just a little.

When it does rain, though, Pepper pretty much drops everything and races out into the downpour. She's missed thunderstorms and the torrential rain they bring. Pepper will spin around with her arms out, head tilted back and mouth open to catch the drops, completely unconcerned by getting drenched from head to toe.

C. [Devin] Outside Water Sector | Early July | Kratos

At the gathering to decide the leadership of the Foreigners Guild, Devin and Kratos had decided to spar. More specifically, they had agreed to duel at dawn with swords. The events in the city had made it somewhat inappropriate to engage in fun activities like that as early as they had intended. After things had settled some, they'd reestablished the day and time. The additional time had meant Devin could acquire himself a beater sword - functional and sharp, though not particularly pretty - and shave off some of the rust that had been building over the years. The sun was just starting to come up when he reached the appointed location, carrying not one sword but two.

D. [Devin] Wood Sector | Throughout July | Open

Most of the time, Devin does his best to stay away from the Hotel. It's not hard, and he's still working on his mental map of the city. June was all about Metal Sector, and this month he's largely wandering through Wood Sector when he isn't working or sleeping. From time to time, he'll pause and find somewhere to sit, all the while taking notes in some kind of shorthand.


OOC note: Let me know if you want a specific starter or write your own adventure!

Comments

CONTINUED

[wintershepherd]

((from this here because June was awful))

"Part of you?" Both of Jack's eyebrows raised high at that one, his gaze going back and forth between the two.

He knew some people on the turtle had learned magic not from their own worlds... indeed, some had learned it when their worlds didn't have magic at all. "Yeah? That's cool. No pun intended. What sort of magic can you do?"

[lasergrenades]

Pepper laughed quietly. "It's called Shadow magic. Bakura's been teaching me. Someone turned it into a card game without really realizing what it was, which is actually kind of useful for me since I use the cards as anchor points," she explained, and handed him a card to look at.

"Basically, I can summon creatures or use different kinds of spells and traps that come from the Shadow Realm, but I need the cards to do it. There's a bunch of rules you have to follow, especially if you're dueling, but the strategy part is half the fun of it. Vee and I were just brainstorming some new ideas of how to use my deck."

[wintershepherd]

"Because that's a name that doesn't sound ominous or anything," Jack quipped, although the concern behind it was real. He accepted the card to look it over.

"Huh, yeah... this could be from almost any trading card game in my world too," he answered. "I wouldn't want to be the guy who realized the 'oops' when that came to light."

He sat down cross-legged across from Pepper, giving Vee another nod, a more proper greeting this time. "Hey, I'm Jack. Nice to meet you, Vee."

[lasergrenades]

"Yeah, it sounds a lot more nefarious than it is," Pepper agreed with a light shrug. "It's just a name - the magic can be used for good things or bad things, depending on whose hands it's in." It was the same for most kinds of power, whether magical or mundane. Her suit could be a weapon, but she used it to help people, not hurt them. "The guy who made the game didn't quite know what he was getting into, no."

The ka didn't respond immediately, head tilted as she studied the new arrival. You are not human, she observed bluntly.

[wintershepherd]

Jack was about to reply to Pepper's comment about magic being inherently one way or another, but he stopped at Vee's blunt statement. "Wow, okay... that's not usually the kind of response to a nice introduction people do. And for the record, I am human, I'm just a spirit too. Doesn't have to be one or the other. What gives?"

[lasergrenades]

Pepper winced, but Vee's expression was, at least, appropriately abashed.

My apologies, I meant no offense. You are much more like me than any other Foreigner that I have met here and I was surprised.

"She's, uh, forward. Well, we're forward," Pepper commented awkwardly. "We should probably work on that a little." Pick their moments, as it were.

The Knight offered what might be a sheepish smile. May I attempt that again?

[wintershepherd]

Jack leaned back a bit at seeing both Pepper's and Vee's reaction, although he did quirk a smile after a few seconds to let them know he wasn't upset. "Go for it, I've needed do-overs myself more times than I can remember."

[lasergrenades]

Vee inclined her head in thanks. It is an unexpected pleasure to meet you as well, Master Jack.

"She doesn't really do names without some kind of title," Pepper elaborated with amusement. "'Master' and 'lady' get used a lot. And most of the time she shows up a couple times bigger than this, but we've been working on shrinking her down to a more normal size. Less imposing. The height's useful for some things still, though, like when we were helping with greenhouse construction. What brings you out to the turtle's head?"

[wintershepherd]

It was a good thing that Pepper clarified the title thing as being normal, of he'd have been far more weirded out. "Nothing in particular, I was flying. It's a lot cooler, the higher up you go."

At least as far as the invisible barrier around the turtle went. Jack paid attention to the sense coming from his soul gem, just to make sure he didn't stray too far.

[lasergrenades]

"Oh. I guess that makes sense. Summer's not your favorite, huh?" She glanced at her deck, thinking through her cards. Maybe there was something in there that could help him stay cooler. "Well, our freezer is pretty much always full of ice cream if you need something to take the edge off the heat. Tony likes playing with the liquid nitrogen generator."

There was also Gene's rings, but they tried not to advertise all of those abilities. Still, if things got really bad, she was sure Gene would help.

"Can it get, like, too hot for you? Should we put some kind of plan together in case you're at risk of melting?" Pepper was trying to make light of a situation that could be really bad for Jack, since getting serious about it didn't seem like fun. "We've got enough magic on the turtle to do something."