tushanshu_logs | EVENT | LANDFALL

Characters: ALL!
Date: January 28th to February 11th
Location: Evidet
Situation: Tu Vishan has washed up near the coastal city of Khatronma.
Warnings/Rating: Add warnings as needed.

The suddenness of the looming cliffs takes even the kedan by surprise, in spite of a number of them trying to plot their course with as much knowledge of the ocean’s currents as they already had. Tu Vishan makes landfall without any of the grace shown in previous times, bumping into the cliffs before finally coming to rest on the reef and rocks at the low tide around Khatronma.

Most of Khatronma's shores consist of steep iced cliffs, and once it becomes clear there is no threat, the residents of Khatronma oblige by establishing scaffolding across from the walls of their city to the turtle’s back. A customs area is quickly set apart, and the residents of Keeliai welcomed -- with some slight confusion. The Khatronmans are just as surprised by the unexpected docking as the kedan.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

China smiled as he drew near, pleased with the result, and straightened. "I don't believe we've met," she said, light, completely passing over the matter of thievery for the moment. He was impressively subtle, especially for someone who'd stand out so much even among other humans. No need to draw attention to it right now; he knew she'd been watching him. "My name is China Sorrows. And you are...?" It was less of a question than an unfinished sentence, with no consideration that he wouldn't fill in the blank.

The smile is bewitching, and it's almost as if he can feel his guard lowering, but he doesn't care. Or rather, he doesn't care because he thinks she won't mind if he does, and pleasing her is appealing. Reassuring, even.

"Bakura," he answered, and the way he says it somehow makes it clear that he's not being coy by withholding a first or last name from her (he wouldn't, some part of his mind insists, not from her).

"Saw something you liked?"

Interesting all around, then; somehow China didn't quite think he was intentionally concealing anything. Nor should he have the resistance most sorcerers would to giving a name.

"Yes, I believe I did," she said, pleasant enough about it, and declined to specify exactly what. "And what brings you here? Evidently you have little enough interest in shopping for its own sake."

"This place is a breath of fresh air from Keeliai, both the location and the people of it," the thief answered, looking at her in something not quite a stare. She had eyes like he'd never seen before, or at least never cared to notice quite that attentively. He wanted to bend her head back and see how deep that blue really went. His fingers quivered a little; he closed them around one of the coins instead.

The coins. He should give them to her, shouldn't he? Surely that would make her happy.

Ah, yes, the staring. Or something approaching it. Well, she'd had ruder acknowledgments of her various charms.

And he was clearly making an effort.

China tilted her head to one side, a gesture of curiosity that just happened to emphasize the long line of her neck. "You've been in Keeliai long enough for it to grow stale. What would you tell me about it?" All her information gathering had been helpful, but even so, she had barely months in Keeliai and a slightly longer perspective would be of use.

"Yes," he answered, and the agreement came effortlessly. "But not here, there are better places for that... for you."

Ideas warred briefly in his mind; one side to be in control of the setting, to have somewhere private even if nothing he had to say about his tenure was particularly secretive... conflicted with the implicit urge to have her somewhere visible, so that everyone could see her, and appreciate and be awed by her beauty and grace, as he was.

Neither concept was winning, and the friction between the two was beginning to jar better senses loose.

It was a sweet sentiment, really, but her uses for sweet were not many, and she'd been hoping for actual concrete information from him. China slanted him a sidelong glance, something approaching speculative. She hadn't even needed to apply extra effort to catch him apparently quite thoroughly.

"Walk with me, then," she prompted, already moving into the path again like there was no question that Bakura would fall into step with her as she brushed past him. "I'd like the longer perspective, and I happen to have all day. What better places would you suggest?"

And Bakura did indeed fall into pace beside her, looking pleased that she wished to hear his observations. "There's a sitting area just ahead," he said. "I passed by it earlier, before I went to the market."

He reached back as if to touch her arm and guide her in the correct direction, but instead his hand closed around her wrist like an iron band, bending it forward-- not enough to break, but certainly to bruise. Bakura glanced back up at her, and with that same eerily placid smile, continued, "But only if you get out of my head, hahnewet, or my word upon ma'at, this will end very badly for both of us."

It occurred to China, quite briefly, that she might have misjudged the thief. She hadn't seen that coming.

The smile slipped from her face, but in favor of a cooler regard, not fear. His grasp hurt, certainly, but said in the same gesture that he knew nothing of her. The fingers of that hand curled under, stretching, to brush her palm, and the tattoo concealed there began to glow faintly. "I'm sure it will," China agreed, her gaze on him sharp. It would go rather worse for him, should that sigil touch him. "And what will you do, my dear Bakura, if I tell you I am not in your head? Whatever you might be feeling is simply an emotion, nothing more."

Which was a vast oversimplification, she supposed, but technically true, and he wouldn't have the background to appreciate the finer details even if she did feel like explaining herself.

Once China's bewitching smile faded, it was as if a measure of focus came back to Bakura. He could feel her hand flexing in his grip, but he didn't move, neither tightening nor loosening, for another full moment before he released it and made no further move to grab her again.

Bakura felt like he was coming down from weightlessness, unwelcome though it was, and China was becoming part of his surroundings, rather than seeming like the only important part of it. He exhaled a slow breath, and realized that his other hand had curled so tightly on itself that he'd drawn pricks of blood from his palm.

"I would say you are a liar," he answered. "And that you like to play a dangerous game. Or does it never occur to you that the people you're toying with may have very necessary reasons for being in control of themselves?"

China did not actually laugh, but she considered it. She rotated the wrist he had held, thoughtful, fingers still loosely curled in with the faint light of the sigil leaking between them.

"Of course they do," she said, quite conversationally. "There's something of a monster in each of us, isn't there? The only difference lies in how well we pen it in with the veneer of civilization." But the way he said it was more personal than generalized. Ah. Perhaps there had been something to his choice to say it would go badly for both of them. Not a gist-user, almost certainly -- she should know if there was more than one of those in this city -- but something else interesting. And dangerous.

"Believe what you like, but I can't get inside anyone's head, nor can I make you do anything. I'm simply standing here." A pause, then, sweetly, "Shall I give you a moment, to get yourself under control?"

EVENT | LANDFALL | EVIDET

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