tushanshu_logs | Sonja February Catch-All

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Sonja February Catch-All

Characters: Sonja, Jack Frost, Zatanna, + OPEN
Date: Month of February
Location: Welcome Center, Midnight Hotel, other parts of the city
Situation: Sonja Volunteers at the Welcome Center, and misc
Warnings/Rating: n/a

A: The Welcome Center
True to her word, Sonja showed up the next day at the Welcome Center to help with whatever Jack Frost or Zatanna told her needed doing. She'll also be around helping out if anyone else drops by the Welcome Center.

B: Midnight Hotel Lobby
Sonja has a room on the third floor and spends a fair amount of time in the hotel.

C: Misc
Sonja makes regular circuits of the city, making observations, meeting people, trying to immerse herself in Kedan culture and make herself visible. She hasn't been asking for permanent jobs, but by watching how businesses operate in the various sectors, occasionally she might make suggestions on how to increase efficiency, or to on how to arrange products to better draw customer eyes and other marketing advice, in exchange for small goods or services, but mostly goodwill. She's not getting many bites quite yet, but its a long game.

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Don't feel bad, Sonja. Gene's making it his business to know who's who.

But he smiles a little, shrugging. "It's not so much that your name is starting to get around, it's that Tony is a chatterbox." Where's the lie, though?

"I'm glad I made an impression enough for him to remember. Well, unless it was a bad impression, then I'm not glad. Did you want a seat?"

She gestures at the chair opposite her. She had a kettle and a half-filled cup next to her, and an illustrated book in a language she couldn't read.

"It's difficult to make a bad impression on him. I wouldn't worry too much." When she asks, he blinks, as though a bit surprised to be asked. "Sure, I wouldn't mind." He takes the offered seat, glancing at the book she's attempting to read. "Any good?"

"I feel it would be dubious of me to claim objective value of a book that I'm only looking at the pictures of. But they are rather captivating images."

She hands the book over to Gene. It's a tiny leather-bound book with vellum pages. Every few pages are intricate illustrations - one of a maze filled with monstrous humanoids with cruel implements, another of a marching army, another of a boat.

"The images are a bit non-sequitor to try to put together a narrative on anything but wild speculation."

Gene laughs a little. "That's true." He peers at the images, careful not to touch the illustrations directly. "The illustrations are very well done." Though he can only guess at the story they're telling - if indeed they're all telling the same story.

"Would you like any tea? I'm rather boring, so I just ordered some green tea. It tastes a little different from the Sencha back in Yellow Comet but its close enough. Or you can just order something different," Sonja added, a bit too quickly. She didn't want to assume.

"I'd hate to impose. Inviting myself to your table and then drinking your tea? How rude of me," he says with a smile. "But you did offer - and I'm parched." He takes one of the cups and pours himself a measure of the tea. "You come from a place called Yellow Comet?" he asks, genuinely curious. An odd name - but then, he supposes that New York is an odd name too. What's so new about it, and how different is it from Old York?

"The greatest nation in Wars World," Sonja said, totally sincerely. "We have holdings across three continents, soldiers without peer, incomparable history and culture, and the greatest... well collectively me and my father are the greatest rulers of the land."

Sonja immediately regretted her words. She shouldn't be nay-saying her father to strangers, even if they were in some strange parallel universe.

"Well," Gene said, sounding duly impressed. He's no stranger to having pride in where you came from and your family. "I had no idea I was speaking to a ruler. With you, me, and Sokka around, we may yet stand a chance of making something of ourselves."

"Any friend of Sokka is... probably as confused as I am," Sonja said, jokingly.

Edited 2015-03-05 01:12 (UTC)

"Don't look too surprised," Gene said, laughing a little. "Turns out he actually has a fair amount of political experience. Sort of."

"Let me guess - half-president of a country?"

Wow, Sonja had actually gotten to a point in Tu Shanshu where she could actually joke about a mutual acquaintance. Progress!

"So tell me about you. Are you another mechanical engineer genius like Tony?"

"You'd really have to ask him. He tells a hell of a story." But he smiled a little at the joke, or what sounded like it.

The smile mellowed into something a little more self-effacing when she asked him about himself. "Oh, no, nothing so lofty. But diplomacy's in the blood, sort of. And I've been trying to navigate our relations with the kedan families...with variable success."

"Oh? Any success with Zanru and Tu Yuxnu?"

She thought for a moment.

"Also, you wouldn't be able to tell me the story of Tony's lab, would you?"

"More success with Zanru than Yunxu for the moment, I'm afraid." Yunxu reminded him too much of Zhang, in a number of ways, which was partially why his displeasure with the way the palace demolition had shaken out caused Gene to lose approximately no sleep at all.

"I think that's a story better told by Tony, but I can give you the basics. What do you want to know?"

That lab had some memories associated with it, for sure. Some bad ones - like the time they'd woken from their blackout to discover the slaughtered hatchlings - and some very, very good.

"Tony seems very hesitant to broach the topic at all. All I know at this point is that he had one, and now he doesn't?"

Sonja had gathered that the lab was the 'Stark Industries' one in the Metal Sector, and it was effectively owned by Zanru. Most Kedan either didn't know or didn't care about the specific timeline of events. It seemed like it had been taken over when the foreigners had disappeared during the dreaming.

"Ah. Yes. A sore subject for him. Apparently the kedan operate under a 'finders keepers' rule when it comes to property law." He was trying to keep the tone light, but not having ready lab access was driving Tony up the wall, which meant it was driving Gene up the wall.

"That seems rather ungrateful, considering you guys got rid of Malicant."

"Yes, many of us thought so," he said, raising an eyebrow. "For the most part, though, we seem to be adapting."

"So how did Tony build it in the first place? What's stopping him from doing the same thing again?"

Gene frowned a little. "He didn't build it. At least...not this one."

He sighed. "There were two other Tonys here for a while. Older ones. Thirties, maybe, or early forties. Anyway, one of them built it before either of us got here. And it seems Zanru thinks that Tony's claim to it isn't valid just because his name graces the building." Privately, he had to see her point. Not like he'd ever admit as much to Tony.

Sonja was far more put off that there were multiple versions of someone showing up in Tu Shanshu??

"Are there any plans to take it back, like there seems to have been with a skeleton and a Bentley?"

"None quite so overt," Gene noted. But he was part of a Foreigner movement to dig out their niche in Keeliai again. "We'd like to have it back in his hands - or even just guaranteed steady access - but that won't happen overnight for certain."

"What's your plan of attack?" Trying to change the culture of Kedan was a bit of a slow-moving one as far as getting access to the lab again.

Gene grinned - though in truth it was more like baring his teeth. "None I'd discuss in public. You'll understand, I'm sure."

"Then we'll have to meet again someplace more private."

A beat.

"Just to be clear, I meant that I'm interested in hearing more about the lab. That wasn't any kind of romantic overture."

Dammit, did saying that make it come across that she was just being Tusndere, cuz she really wasn't interested. Oh god what if it was a tsundere thing and she just didn't know it since a lack of self-awareness was a defining trait of the tsundere archetype???

Gene stared at her for a moment, then laughed a little. He can see why it may have come off that way.

"Don't worry," he said sincerely, "you're not my type. But yes, I'll tell you all about the lab and the other thing. When are you free?" He picked up his mug of tea and had a drink, smiling at her over the rim.

"Uh, lets see... I keep my schedule pretty full but I can be flexible..."

She pulls out her phone and checks out her schedule. "I try to get a few hours at the Welcome Center most days, generally I walk a circuit through the sectors, and its back to the Hotel."

"Sometime in the evening, then?" he suggests. "I try and keep my early evenings free."

He looks at her phone, a little surprised. "I must admit, I'd like to know how you keep that thing's battery from dying."

"Tony," Sonja said with a smile. "He rigged up a converter within a couple hours of him talking to me, although I don't know where he gets the power from. The battery lasts for days at a time on lower power mode and no network connections."

"Evening should be fine."

"I'd ask him to fix mine, but..." The battery on his own phone had run out a long time ago, and he hadn't really missed it all that much. "I don't think it's worth it, for me."

"Great," he said, smiling. "I'm usually found in the Hotel. If you can't see me in the lobby, Anton will probably be able to direct you to where I am."

"Sounds like a plan." She politely put her hands together and bowed.

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Sonja February Catch-All

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Two tsunderes walk into a bar...but it's not like they like it or anything! Baka.

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