summer has come and passed, the innocent can never last | open, with starters

[wrathfulkhan]

Characters: Eyebrow Squad Gene, Jackie, Deon, and you!
Date: Throughout September 15 days late with Starbucks
Location: Keeliai and the rest of the shell
Situation: September interactions for Eyebrow Squad.
Warnings/Rating: None initially, but subject to change.

A. [Gene] House Iron Dragon | September 15 | closed to Pepper
So this has been a long time coming, and things have come to the point where Pepper and Gene need to - gasp! - talk their problems out. Gene's sensed this coming for a while. He's made tea, and is sitting at the table, waiting for Pepper.

B. [Jackie] Dove's Place | early September | closed to Dove
Jackie is in an unusually good mood today. Yunxu seems to be ignoring him for now, so he's not sure what to do with himself...aside from hang with his Snake brothers. He's still itching for something more than gang life, and talking to Dove usually seems to make him chill out; while he is in a good mood, there's some anxiety lingering about him for sure.

C. [Deon] China's Place | early September | closed to China
Deon's been avoiding China ever since Erskine had accused him of being a spy. Confrontation is not his style. But learning sigils from her had been fascinating, and he'd been wavering between continuing his studies while keeping his head low, and telling her exactly where she could go shove her information requests. Perhaps if Deon had been taken a week or two before, he might have gone with the former; now, he's more inclined to opt for the latter. But he'll hear her out. She deserves a fair shake.

He takes a deep breath, and knocks.

D. [Gene] Fire Sector | throughout September | open
Gene is keeping a weather eye on the Chihuelans as they make their way through the city. And not a particularly kindly one, either. In fact, it could be read as a downright stink-eye, if they ever took notice of him.

E. [Jackie] Sky Sector | throughout September | open
Jackie can be found in the Sky Sector this month, slumming it with his Snake buddies, gambling in alleyways and generally being a hooligan and a layabout.

F. [Deon] Metal Sector | throughout September | open
Of course, Deon isn't Deon if he's not working on some ridiculous project or other. He's going around the Metal Sector in his off-time, picking up bits and pieces to tinker with. He might even find something worthwhile.

G. [Deon] Deon's Room | early September | closed to Tom
Deon's been sitting in his room all day, working on cracking the security of the laptop that he'd come upon in the market. It's been a side project more than anything - current events had kept him busy - but he's still interested in breaking in. It's not his laptop, but it's Tetravaal, so that makes it a little something of home.

H. [Gene] House Iron Dragon | early September | closed to Tony
Mail wasn't something the occupants of House Iron Dragon were accustomed to getting, so the pair of letters shoved under the door while Gene and Tony were out were a surprise.

"What, is Pepper leaving us notes now?" Gene asks, stooping to pick them up - and stops when he sees the name scrawled on one envelope, in what's unmistakably his handwriting.

铁木真.

I. [Deon] the Morrigan | early September | closed to Shay
Deon has gotten to know the former Assassin's ship (not a boat) passably well, and he knows it's here he can go to find Shay when he needs him. He knocks gently on the cabin door. "Shay?"

Comments

A! :3

[lasergrenades]

Gene is not the only one who has been thinking that he and Pepper need to have a chat, perhaps even a discussion. After speaking with Raine, she's been better able to sort out exactly which feelings she's having over what incidents, situations, and people, although there is some bleed-through.

When she comes home and Gene is sitting at the kitchen table with nothing other than tea and a pensive expression on his face, she's a little confused. Not that Gene isn't allowed to sit at the table and drink tea; at times he is as mysterious as Bakura and it can be hard to figure out what he's thinking.

"Hey, Gene," she says amiably. "Ooh, you made tea." It's been a tense week, and she could use something to calm her nerves, which have been a little stretched lately. Pepper crosses the kitchen and pours herself some, then turns back to see him. Just. Sitting there. Still. "So. Uh. Are you waiting for something, or...?"

/rubs hands gleefully

[wrathfulkhan]

That's just what happens when you're a Gold Tiger. You get license to sit and brood pensively over tea and be all mysterious. Actual wushu rule. Look it up.

"Hey, Pepper," he says, and waits for her to pour the tea, turning his own cup from side to side in his hands.

"Yeah, actually. I've been waiting for you."

[lasergrenades]

Pepper's eyebrows shoot up, stopping mid breath to look up from cooling off her tea.

"Uh. Okaaay. You realize that sounds, like, super ominous, right?" She leans back against the counter, holding her mug carefully. "And you could have just texted me so you didn't have to wait that long, now that we've got these nicer phone/radio things," she adds, somewhere between teasing and chiding. "Sooo. Why were you waiting for me?"

Pepper is fairly certain she knows the answer to that question, but why pass up the opportunity to ask?

I, I, Cap'n.

[irishthor]

There's no response. He's definitely in there, as the lanterns are lit. If Deon listens, he can hear something that sounds like Shay snoring inside.

Of course, the door is unlocked...

Ha!

[craftlife]

Well, right, that'd be terribly rude, walking into a man's private quarters. Luckily for all of us, Deon has no concept of personal space, so he opens the door quietly. (Also, he doesn't want to be out in the open too much at night with the Chihuelans around.)

[irishthor]

The cabin is warm, rather well-decorated for the time. There's a model of the Morrigan off to the right, used for planning improvements to the vessel, and a large, locked chest to the left.

The main object in the room is the large table, with charts and other related items scattered about it. Sat at the head, slumped in a chair, head forward on his chest, is Shay Cormac.

One arm is across his middle, the other dangles off to the side. In the gloved hand is a piece of paper. Something is written on it, and, judging by the alcohol bottles around, it's something Shay's been stewing over for a while.

B!

[phoenixstrut]

Though Dove is generally the first to approach when she spots someone she knows out and about, today she decides to stand back and watch curiously as her currently overly excited young deer decides he's going to get Jackie's attention for her himself. She hasn't been in a great mood lately--she's not keen on everything going on and her boyfriend ignoring her-- but Jackie always good company.

Era has zero qualms about approaching and gently(ish) nudging at the young man's side with his small antlers.

[jinzhong]

Jackie doesn't entirely notice the deer until it comes over and...pokes him. With tiny antlers.

"Whoa! Oh, uh, hey, guy," he says, laughing, and takes a step back, holding out his hand for Era to smell. That's...that's how you deal with hoofed creatures, right?

[phoenixstrut]

She giggles from her place, then slowly begins to approach, watching as the small deer curiously sniffs Jackie's hand... and then licks his fingers.

"You'll make friends with just about anyone these days, hm?" she grins once she's close enough, though whether it's at Era or Jackie might not be too clear.

C! In which we pretend this is going to go well.

[inkulcation]

China's place is in a relatively nice location in Fire sector, and not exceptionally difficult to find. Nor is the woman herself; a few moments after Deon knocks, she opens the door. She smiles easily, like nothing at all is wrong between them.

In truth, she'd rather been expecting to see Deon again sooner than this, and he doesn't look as annoyed as she might have thought. "How lovely to see you again, my dear," she says, electing to begin with the 'what could possibly be wrong' approach. "Why don't you come in?"

[craftlife]

When China smiles at him, he almost forgets what's wrong.

Almost.

She's just so cool, though! And she'd been teaching him sigils! And...!

...and Erskine had been so angry when he'd mentioned keeping an eye on the Hotel for her, and how he'd thought it had been nothing at all.

He smiles back anyway, because it's not like he can stop himself.

"It's good to see you too," he begins, and follows her in.

Step into my lair, said the spider to the fly...

[inkulcation]

China is absolutely expecting that he has that issue to bring up, too. It's just a matter of how long and how well she can distract him from it, and if perhaps she can completely assuage that anger.

"Would you like tea?" she inquires, still smiling as she leads him into her sitting room and gestures with one careless sweep of an arm toward the available chairs. "It will only take a few moments."

H

[highprofilerichkid]

"Maybe the texting on her handset is broken," Tony jokes, before looking at the letters in Gene's hands and coming to the same realization he had.

"Hold on, let me see that." Tony takes the envelope that's addressed to him, in what looks suspiciously like his own handwriting.

His expression gets more and more confused the longer he peers at it. That's definitely his handwriting, and he definitely doesn't remember writing or sending himself a letter.

"What the heck...?" He looks over to Gene. "What's on your envelope?" He's guessing it's Gene's name, but he's not familiar enough with Chinese characters to be able to tell if it's in Gene's handwriting. Maybe the handwriting on Tony's letter is just some freaky coincidence?

[wrathfulkhan]

"It's my name," he says, "my full name." Did anyone in Keeliai know his full name? Immediately he can think of two other people - Akito and Tony. Akito might know how to write in Chinese, but it's not in his style, and Tony certainly wouldn't. Not to mention... "And it's in my handwriting."

[highprofilerichkid]

"...Yeah. Mine too." Cue Twilight Zone theme. This is getting really weird. Tony turns the letter over in his hands a few times, looking for any more clues. But it's just a plain envelope: no other writing or notable features.

"You don't remember us sending letters to ourselves, do you?" Tony's starting to feel like he's going crazy, and he's not sure whether a 'yes' or 'no' would be more comforting.

D!

[deadclumsy]

The Fire sector doesn't hold much interest for Tonks, but she hasn't explored it much and has nothing better to do today. It really isn't any more interesting than she thought it would be, except -

Well, there's a face she knows (and the expression, too!) She can't exactly tell if Gene looks like that all the time, or if there's something going on today that has made him particularly unpleasant, but whatever the case, general lack of personableness has never put her off talking to people she knows.

She strolls over, hands in the pockets of her coat and a pleasant smile fixed on her face (because someone in this equation needs to be smiling, and if Gene's not going to do it...) "Wotcher, Gene."

[wrathfulkhan]

Gene's a little surprised when Tonks comes up to him, smiling rather pleasantly. It's almost like she can't tell he's in a Mood. (Or maybe she can, and is doing this on purpose. That particular personality type does seem to be the chief offenders at that kind of thing. See: Pepper.)

He nods at her. "Tonks. Had the chance to get acquainted with our visitors yet?" he asks, lifting his chin in the direction of the nearest Chihuelan search party.

[deadclumsy]

She followed his gaze to the Chihuelans and pursed her lips, smile now gone in favor of an expression of mild distrust. She didn't like their presence here. Something about the way they had simply invited themselves to search for their missing ranks unsettled her.

People who behaved this way were unpredictable and dangerous. She hoped they left before anything went terribly wrong.

"No. I'm staying as far away from them as I can for now." She looked askance at him. "Don't suppose you know much about them and are in a sharing mood?"

D.

[insertdadjoke]

Gene wasn't the only one watching. Cain was particularly good at blending into a crowd and not looking to be at attention, but he kept an eye on the proceedings around town even when it looked like he wasn't, like he was doing other things (he was; multitasking wasn't all that hard). Watching one person or group lent itself to watching for others, and seeing Gene didn't so much surprise him as offer him an opportunity to take a break.

Casually, he walked up alongside Gene and asked, "Why do I get the feeling we're out on the same errand today?"

[wrathfulkhan]

Oh hey. It's that guy.

Gene was pleased to see that he was doing better since his little episode - and that maybe the conversation they'd had earlier hadn't just been for show. He smiled, keeping his own pace and attitude casual. "Because we most likely are. Checking up on our visitors, making sure they're finding everything okay." The sarcasm dripped off the last few words.

[insertdadjoke]

Yeah, that guy. Ever since that flashback, Cain had taken to being a bit more careful about how he approached things but didn't really let it stop him entirely when trying to deal with the Chihuelans. Ain't nobody got time for that.

"From what I've seen, they finding everything they need," said with the same amount of sarcasm, perhaps even a bit of grim humor laced inside. There were a lot of problems with what was going on, but Cain wasn't above a bit of bantering regarding it all.

E!

[stubbornlittleshit]

It's not necessarily a great idea to use your life's falling to pieces to gamble, but Arno's...going to go ahead with unhealthy coping mechanisms if he can get them. Even when it comes to Snakes and the people who hang out with them. So, as he's dropping from a low height behind Jackie, he's also looking rather calm, despite the tumult of emotion floating around inside him.

"I hear you're a betting man." he says, close behind his ear. "Care to take a chance with a fellow foreigner?"

[jinzhong]

It's embarrassing - it really is - but Jackie yelps, scrambling away. The other Snakes around him get to their feet, drawing their knives. Jackie looks back at the intruder, them glances at his compatriots and shakes his head before turning bak to Arno. He's seen this guy before, even if they haven't talked much.

"What the fuck, man?"

G - ugghsfdkf i need to get tom doing things again

[makesright]

There's a knock at Deon's hotel room door, and if he checks the eagle eye, he'll find Tom waiting in the hall with an offering of snacks he'd grown to like from around the markets in town. Back in his college days, the STEM students knew they were prone to forgetting to eat -- it became a custom in their dorms to bring food and company to fellow students you hadn't seen in a while.

Probably a good habit to get into here, too, considering the friends he was making.

aaah same with Deon orz

[craftlife]

Deon gives a start when the knock comes, and he gets up to check. He opens the door, and breaks into a wide grin when he sees Tom. "Dr. Light!" he says excitedly.

Like the STEM students of yore, Deon has also forgotten to eat, though he has consumed one Red Bull. He's trying to conserve them, but he wants to crack this laptop wide open. Result: he's disheveled and looks like he hasn't slept in at least two days.

"How are you doing? Come on in, please!"