you're standing too close to a flame that's burning | open, with starters

[wrathfulkhan]

Characters: Eyebrow Squad Gene, Jackie, Deon, and you!
Date: Throughout July
Location: Keeliai and the rest of the shell
Situation: July interactions for Eyebrow Squad.
Warnings/Rating: None initially, but subject to change.

A. [Gene] House Iron Dragon | July 6 | closed to Pepper

Gene's been able to keep his emotions contained after his initial breakdown upon first experiencing the vision, but he can't hold that tide back forever on his own. At least he manages to keep it in until he reaches the house, and immediately goes into the kitchen to make himself some tea just so he has something to do with his hands (that isn't dig his nails into his palms so hard they nearly draw blood). But he doesn't finish making it; he's barely gotten the cup down when he's seized with another wave of grief and anger and frustration and guilt. It slams down a little harder than he'd meant it to, making a clatter, and he rests his elbows on the edge of the counter, his nails digging into his scalp, his eyes screwed shut.

B. [Gene] House Iron Dragon | early July | closed to Raine

Gene's been practicing a little - scraps of different metals were scattered across a piece of the kitchen he'd claimed as his temporary workroom. Some experiments had clearly been more successful than others, but there's a clear progression of his improving skill and finesse with the orange ring. Fine-tuning it had been the hardest part, and he wants to be especially careful when dealing with something as delicate as someone else's soul gem.

C. [Gene] Sky Sector | mid-July | open

Gene's seemed pretty preoccupied as of late - though with things in Keeliai being how they are, who could blame him? His mood's brightened considerably since leaving Zeshora in their wake, though, and he's back to being as chipper as he usually is. Which is to say, not especially, but at least he won't bite your head off if you look at him the wrong way.

He's taking down notes from time to time, but if you try and read over his shoulder, you may not be in luck. Unless you can read Mongolian script, of course. Hey, some people here can read Chinese, and a whole lot can read English. There are some notes he'd rather keep to himself instead of sharing with any nosey parker lurking somewhere over his shoulder.

D. [Jackie] Water Sector | early July | closed to Dove

Jackie's been keeping mostly to himself lately as he's been trying to figure out how to leave the Snakes. Today, he's walking by one of the canals, trying to relax in the most laid-back sector, when he sees someone familiar.

"Hey, Dove!" he calls out, hoping he's right.

E. [Jackie] Water Sector | July 6 | open

The vision had driven Jackie straight to a bar. He doesn't really know what he's drinking and he doesn't much care, just so long it gets those horrible visions out of his head. He knows, somewhere, miserably, that it won't get out, no matter how much vodka-analogue he tries to drown the memory in. It's seared itself on his neurons, and he misses Rio'era terribly.

F. [Deon] Metal Sector | mid-July | open

Deon's been a bit unmoored this month; what with the Stark Industries handover and that horrible vision of the baby turtles soon after, and of course Vincent being around and in the Hotel, he's been very jumpy of late. Definitely jumpier than usual. Nobody come up behind him, okay? It's undignified for a 6'2" man to scream.


G. [Deon] Sky Sector | July 18 | closed to Dr. Light

Deon had gone on a shopping expedition today, but his prize had been quite unexpected. The kedan hadn't seemed to know what he had, and was selling for a reasonable price, so Deon had snatched it up immediately, his heart pounding in his ears.

The laptop sat on the table across from him, bedecked with Tetravaal decals, and dead as a doornail. It had no charge whatsoever, and if it had even shown up in Keeliai with a charger, it had long since been lost.

He picked up his tea, and stared at the laptop. It was exactly what he needed, but he needed to devise a way to power it, first. And that is not his forte.

---

OOC Note: If you want another starter, please hit me up over at Chatvert and I'll pull something together for you! :>

Comments

[craftlife]

(Can't stop won't stop.)

Deon flinches, just a bit, when Shay grabs him. He's still very, very jumpy.

"Where are we...?"

[irishthor]

"This way." He jerks his head towards a café nearby, tugging on Deon's arm. He's pretty strong for his size. "You look like you need it."

[craftlife]

Deon quite reluctantly lets himself be dragged by Shay to the nearby cafe. "S-sure. Okay." His heart's still pounding like a kettledrum in his ears from his earlier fright.

[irishthor]

And you're getting dragged in, sat down and tea ordered as Shay flops heavily into the chair opposite, thudding his arm and hand onto the table casually, watching for Deon's reaction.

"You look like you've seen a ghost, mate." Shay remarks, finally, voice lower than before.

[craftlife]

"It's been an...interesting few weeks," he finally admits to Shay. Really, he shouldn't be this jumpy and tense, but Vincent being around has made him feel very unsafe, in all areas. Just in general.

[irishthor]

"Want to talk about it?" Shay asks, leaning back as the tea arrives. "I find it's sometimes easier when people do."

[craftlife]

Deon shrugs a little, and curls his hands around his mug of tea. "Someone I used to know back home showed up. We weren't exactly friends."

Understatement, Deon.

[irishthor]

"If that's what's causing you to leap into the sky at every odd noise, I'd say there's more to it than that."

[craftlife]

Deon makes a face. "We were colleagues. He started to hate me because my project was more successful than his."

Beat.

"Then he tried to kill me with a horrible military drone and tried to shoot me when he saw me in person."

So, not your usual workplace drama.

[irishthor]

A pause, there, as Shay takes a sip of his tea. He doesn't seem too perturbed by all this.

"Did this happen recently?"

[craftlife]

"Minutes before I arrived," Deon says, staring into his mug as the steam curls up around his face. It fogs his glasses, and he takes them off, hastily cleaning them on his shirt.

[irishthor]

"Has he tried anything since appearing here?" He asks, seeming intent on getting as much information as possible.

[craftlife]

Deon shakes his head, then hesitates. "He showed up during the festival a few months ago and tried to shoot me. Aqua intervened. But he doesn't seem to remember that now."

[irishthor]

He contemplates that, swirling the tea around a bit in his mug.

"I can keep an eye on him." A pause. "If you want."

[craftlife]

Deon looks a little uncertain at that. "I don't know. He hasn't really been out and about much. We are both staying in the Hotel, though." And even the shadow of Vincent gives him an awful fright.

[irishthor]

A shrug. "It's up to you. My services are on offer." He takes another sip of his drink. "I wouldn't normally offer, but you're my friend, and I owe you my life. If there's someone here who could put yours at risk..."

[craftlife]

Deon looks up at that, a little surprised. "I...might need to take you up on that," he says after a long moment. He's a little surprised that Shay considers him a friend, and he smiles a little. "He seems different since he arrived. A little more...subdued?"

He shakes his head. "He showed up in a bad way, worse than how I arrived, I think."

[irishthor]

"So, he might be from a different point in time to you?"

It's happened before. Arno and himself, for one example.

[craftlife]

"He was when we arrived, I think, by a matter of about an hour. But now, we seem to be, ah, roughly more contemporary."

Deon's robot son beat up the office bully, in other words.

[irishthor]

"...What could happen in an hour?"

Shay's probing; What could have caused a man who was threatening to shoot Deon dead to not bothering?

Honestly? A lot can happen in an hour. And Shay knows that.

[craftlife]

"Having your life's work destroyed unhinges a man, I think," Deon says, adjusting his glasses. That is true, but it is not the whole truth. "And Chappie was protecting me, and avenging the...people who died trying to protect him."

The whole scenario is mad complex, yo.

[irishthor]

Indeed.

Shay takes another gulp of tea, lapsing into silence for a moment. "You lead a complicated life, Master Wilson." He then looks up at Deon. "Do you think this man may make another attempt on your life?"

[craftlife]

Literally fucking tell him about it, Shay.

Deon shakes his head. "No, I don't think so. When I saw him again...after he appeared...he almost seemed frightened of me."

[irishthor]

"Yet your actions speak otherwise." Shay points out. "You're as jumpy as a newborn lamb in the fields."

Although, that's something interesting. Frightened of Deon? The lad seems the most inoccuous and harmless being he's come across...

"Is there any reason for him to be afraid of you?"

Perhaps there was more to Master Wilson than Shay realises.

[craftlife]

It's true, Deon wouldn't hurt a fly, and if he did he'd apologize to it.

Deon laughs, then, a short, sharp sound. "I tend to keep my distance from people who've tried to kill me in the past." Well...that had served him well enough, even if the one who ended up shooting him was someone he'd had no connection to in the first place. Half marks, then?

"But no. There's no reason for him to be afraid of me. None that I can think of, anyway."