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

[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.

[wrathfulkhan]

"Indeed," Gene said, glancing back at the search party. "I wonder if they want any assistance. It must be so tedious doing it the way they are."

As if he'd help them. Fat chance. Keeliai was the closest thing to home he'd had in quite some time, and the Chihuelans practically invading again left a bad taste in his mouth.

[insertdadjoke]

"Oh, I'm sure they'd welcome any help," Cain said with a large shrug. "It just seems they haven't been asking the right way at all."

Which was to say, no one in their right mind would actively help these invaders. Even if they were sanctioned and had arrived on appearances of peace, no one was particularly fooled. To aid them was to aid an enemy who had once tried to take over this city, and it wasn't hard to realize why no one cared to do that. "Notice anything of interest during your check-ups?"

[wrathfulkhan]

"Yes, actually," Gene said. "Look how they're moving through the streets. It's almost as if they've been here before - or they have some sort of map. That's a bit odd, don't you think? It leads me to believe the so-called deserters are no mere deserters."

He looked at Cain. "Or am I just being paranoid?"

[insertdadjoke]

Cain tilted his head to the side, a noncommittal motion. "While I agree it isn't the best situation, we just don't know what preparations they may have made well before the actual invasion last year," he said slowly. "Or how they acquired it." It was possible that the invasion force and the occupation force were working off the same intel acquired at a much-previous point in the past.

"That doesn't mean you're wrong," he added thoughtfully. "Just that we really don't know much about the original incident, do we? Or how far the cooperation really extended before they decided to desert. The Justicar was able to send a message here, presumably from her own base, before she arrived. So having a message sent from here isn't that far off, either."

[wrathfulkhan]

"Regardless, I don't like that they have that information, whether obtained through espionage or war." Gene frowned. Ironically, he had no patience for traitors; though perhaps that was less ironic than born of experience. He'd betrayed those who had trusted him. He still regretted it.

"I think this is something I ought to look into."

[insertdadjoke]

That was something with which Cain could definitely agree. The Chihuelans' knowledge was getting everyone into trouble and making things more difficult, and acting against them now would be folly when no one had any idea how much they knew and on what subjects. Frustrating as it was, the foreigners and kedan needed their own information first.

"What, you mean what their information is?" asked Cain.

[wrathfulkhan]

"What their information is, how they got it, and from whom," Gene clarifies. "I've been thinking about this for a while, but mostly to examine the families, not any invaders. We need better sources about what is going on in Keeliai. And abroad, if we can."

Abroad might not work, but it'd be interesting to put some feelers out.

[insertdadjoke]

"Countering espionage with espionage," Cain translated. It was a solid point and one he wasn't going to protest. The problem was that these were specially-trained operatives and soldiers and the people in Keeliai... largely were not. They needed a foundation before they could begin to work on such a level.

[wrathfulkhan]

"It'd be like herding cats, but there are some among us who might seem to have a talent for such things." He glanced at Cain. "Would you count yourself among them?"

[insertdadjoke]

Considering this, Cain tilted his head back and forth with a grimace. There was a time where it had been a specialty of his to gain information unknowing to others and he was still good at keeping up on the gossip, but more of his skills tended to lean toward the tech-oriented or modern. His paranoia from that era had simmered down considerably and made it much less necessary to keep up on everyone and everything.

"That skillset is long-rusted," he eventually settled on saying. What 'long' would mean to someone of his physical age was up to Gene's interpretation. "You probably wouldn't want me."

[wrathfulkhan]

Gene shrugged. "If it's that long-rusted, you've probably forgotten more than I know. I could use the guidance, if you're interested. If not...can you name anyone you might think would be?"

[insertdadjoke]

That was an astute observation, and Cain inhaled long and thoughtful. "No one here that I've noticed," he said easily enough. It wasn't something for polite conversation, and the entire idea of spying meant you went undetected. Finding someone like that was no easy task. "And I could give you pointers but they may no longer be that applicable. When I played the game, things were a lot different."