tushanshu_logs | For you are made of nebulas and novas and night sky...

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For you are made of nebulas and novas and night sky...

Characters: Pepper Potts, Yami no Bakura, Raine Sage, Jackie Ma, Gene Khan, Tony Stark and open!
Date: Throughout November
Location: Around Keeliai
Situation: Pepper gains the ability to do magic on her own, she's turning 18... it's a crazy month
Warnings/Rating: Probably mention of death; others as needed

A. Jade Dojo | November 1 | Bakura

After the reappearance of Bakura's ghosts, Pepper offered to be something of an ally for them. As she promised, she hasn't kept asking about it, although it's been extremely difficult. As something of an alternative, she'd visited the pyramid outside the city a few times and drawn out the hieroglyphs. She thought about using the suit to translate them, or to borrow one of Solomon's books, but thought better of it. Pepper is only going to learn those names if or when Bakura tells her. She made a promise, and she's going to keep it. Despite them being remnants of people, mostly full of rage according to Raine, she's grown a little fond of them. She comes to the dojo looking forward to seeing them as well as him now.

B. Fire Sector | November 6 | Jackie

Jackie is a sort of odd and interesting person. He's different than most of the people Pepper knows in Keeliai, but he's fun to hang out with. Plus, hanging out with him is a great reason to visit the Fire sector, which is a super cool place. He's also one of the only people she's talked to about the letter she got and that's earned him extra brownie points.

C. House Iron Dragon | November 15, morning | Gene and Tony

Pepper can do magic. She can do magic. On her own. This is awesome and terrifying at the same time. After taking enough time to calm down about it, she needs to tell Gene and Tony. This is awesome! She's as antsy as she's ever been, buzzing with excitement when she bursts into the house.

"Gene? Tony? Are you guys home?" Pepper calls, loudly.

D. Healing Guild | November 15, later afternoon | Raine

It had occurred to Pepper that, while giving Raine a heads up that she was stopping by would have been the polite thing, her shared excitement about this new development will probably overcome any upset at barging in. She's practically bouncing through the halls on her way to Raine's office.

"Raaaaaaaaine," she sings, sliding to a stop in front of the healer's door, the gauntlet on hidden behind her back.

E. Central and Sky Sectors | Late November | Open to all

Back home, it's nearing Thanksgiving. The air is getting colder, and sometimes the feeling of homesickness is intense. Pepper didn't think she'd be spending Thanksgiving away from her dad for many, many years to come. She's doing her best to hide it by preparing for Thanksgiving at home. That means decorations and finding the best substitutes for things like garlic mashed potatoes and perfect roast turkey. She can often be seen in the markets, poring over the different offerings and trying not to buy all the scarves in Keeliai.

(OOC: If you want a starter, PM me or hit me up on plurk)

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"Yeah, although I've only tried with one that already knows me. Bakura says I have to do some kind of test before I try summoning something else." A test that was implied to potentially rather dangerous, but he'd assured her from the start that he wouldn't let harm come to her. At least not permanent harm.

Pepper breaks from the Knight's gaze when Raine approaches, freeing her to look at the healer. The redhead nods. She seems uncertain for a moment, but then reaches to grasp not just Raine's hand but her whole forearm, wrapping her hand just under Raine's elbow.

Greetings.

"Can you hear her? Vee says hi, if you can't." Those who were able to see spirits usually were, however.

I do not believe that is what I said, Lady," the Knight adds, although she sounds a tad amused.

"A test," Raine says absently, nodding. "Yes, that follows. In our world, summon spirits typically set a test that their summoner must overcome before they will accept the making of a pact. Often a physical battle, though from what Bakura has said I suspect anything to do with this sort of summoning will be a bit more involved."

The upshot is, she's not surprised by there being a test for a summoner. She beams up at the Knight, who she can, in fact, hear. "I can," she confirms aloud. "May I ask you a few questions?" She glances from Vee, to Pepper, and back again. "Unless keeping you here is going to exert a significant strain."

"A bit more involved and a lot less clear-cut. Apparently it's different for everyone so I've basically got no idea what to expect. We're gonna talk about it more later," Pepper elaborates. "But it'll be soon."

If the Knight is at all surprised that Raine can understand her, she doesn't show it.

"It's not hard to have her here at all, actually. It's like... I mean, it's like breathing. She's just sort of... always there. Ah, I forgot introductions! Raine, this is Valkyrian Knight, but I call her Vee. Vee, this is Raine Sage."

You may pose your questions, Raine Sage, the Knight rumbles mentally.

"Vee," Raine says, thoughtfully. It feels a little strange, shortening such a name to one syllable, especially when the owner of that name is who and what she is. She will likely err on the side of respect in the future, though Valkyrian Knight seems more like a description than an actual name.

Hm. For the time being, she asks her questions. The mental address is -- a little strange -- but nothing she can't wrap her head around, thanks to prior experience with summon spirits. And also Valdis. "You're part of Pepper's soul, but you're also evidently a discrete entity. How much of her are you? For instance, how vastly do you disagree?"

Pepper suppresses a snort at the second question, but holds her tongue to let Vee speak for herself.

I am much like a reflection in the water - at once part, and yet not part , she begins. We are bonded, and I cannot willingly disobey. Our opinions may vary... significantly, however.

"Vee and Bakura just about went at each other's throats in my bedroom," Pepper supplies helpfully. "She doesn't like him very much."

I do not trust him, the Knight confirms, gripping the hilt of her sword a little tighter. But I trust the Lady, and that is enough.

"You believe that she trusts him, in other words." Raine nods. She wonders a little if the Valkyrian Knight has Pepper's misgivings, only made large and resolute, but that she doesn't ask aloud.

It's concerning to hear she and Bakura nearly attacked each other. Raine frowns a little. The tightening of the hand on the sword is very obvious body language. Obvious, and ominous. Still, Pepper evidently didn't let anything untoward happen... "But you can still act independent of Pepper's will, correct? It's simply that if she orders you to stop, you must?"

That's not an inaccurate assessment; Pepper certainly has many questions of an uncomfortable nature about Bakura, but the Knight's distaste is somewhat more ancient.

Correct, the Knight echoes. But she has elected to avoid most such orders, the creature adds with some fondness, the ghost of a smile crossing the warrior's features. Her grip relaxes on the sword.

"Unless we're Dueling," Pepper clarifies. "But that's different. It's a respect thing," she adds vaguely.

"Yes, I believe I understand." Despite the vagueness, Raine looks like that makes perfect sense to her. A great deal of this, honestly, falls in line with what she knows of the summoner's pact, and how she's observed Sheena to act with the spirits. "Dueling constitutes a formal setting, correct? Certain codes of conduct must necessarily be observed, regardless of an inclination to informality outside. Or so I'd assume."

What else pressing does she have for the Knight? Raine thinks a moment, then brightens. "How long have you existed?" she wants to know. "As long as Pepper, or as long as she was conscious of you, or...?" There are too many options for her to enumerate them all.

"Yeah, basically. There's all this turn order stuff that you can't ignore unless you want it to come back and bite you. Rules are rules," Pepper agrees, shrugging. "But if the creatures don't recognize you as a Duelist they won't obey you, apparently. And then you're in all sorts of trouble."

Which was what the test is going to be about; she'd had success with the Milus, but that was one creature. If she's not capable of controlling the power the glove has given her, she's probably going to face serious danger.

We do not account for the passage of time in the same way as you do, the Knight remarks. But the Shadow Realm has existed for eons, as have most of the creatures that inhabit it. My status as ka became apparent only when the Lady came here, to a world connected to the Shadow Realm.

Turn order as applies to combat is something Raine hasn't really considered. "Turn order," she echoes, considering, not entirely able to hide how strange she finds the concept. Rules are rules, but-- ah. A duel, not a fight. It's according to a code. Of honor, or other things.

"Part, and yet not part," Raine says finally, calling back to what the Valkyrian Knight said earlier. "So you were, perhaps, always connected to her, but only aware of that when she came into your sphere of influence?" A pause. "...Not all worlds are connected to the Shadow Realm?" she asks, glancing between the two of them, and it seems that concept's caught her attention especially.

"Yup. It sounds like it could be totally restricting in a real fight, but I've still got power armor," Pepper points out. "It'll be super cool to mix the two."

And require practice, to a degree. Pepper can follow a lot of threads at once, and Vee at least is easy to work with. If she ever wanted to use other shadow creatures in combat, she's going to practice a lot, given the amount of concentration she'll need to have.

It may be as you describe. And no, they are not, the Knight replies simply.

"We don't have any magic back home," the teen says. "I guess that's why we don't have shadow magic specifically."

"Are you sure fighting in your armor won't count as outside the bounds of the duel?" Raine wonders aloud. Bakura's magic had folded around hers and worked in concert before, interpreting her abilities within his own schema. She doesn't see a reason that should change for a melee combatant. But perhaps the summoner in the equation operates by slightly different rules?

This might require some study later.

"Can you tell from here if my own is or not?" Raine inquires, curious, following a tenuous thread of an idea. A beat. "Was this one, before Bakura arrived?"

"I have literally no idea," Pepper admits. "We're just gonna have to test it and hope I don't accidentally break any rules that blow up in my face. I'm kind of an unknown quantity right now."

Vee could likely help prevent any mishaps, but they are still a possibility. Raine is more than welcome to study how this is going to work; Bakura did refer to her as an experiment, after all.

I cannot, but your ability to hear me suggests that it may be, the Knight says after a pause, as if she was trying to sift through the many connections between realms. As for this world, I am uncertain. This place is... unusual.

"Be careful," Raine says, because she's quite sure Pepper is going to go ahead and do it no matter what. All she can ask is that Pepper be careful.

She nods to the Knight. Unusual is putting it lightly, what with the shift in the Dreaming. "My own world's spirits live in a dimension a little apart from ours, as I understand it. I doubt it's the same thing entirely, but I would not be surprised if there was some connection." She's gone pensive now. There's ideas there, yes, but things she will need to turn over and over for some time to know what to make of them. At length, she nods. "I don't have any other questions at the moment. Thank you. Is there anything you're curious about?"

"I'll do my best," Pepper replies, because there was only so far that being careful could get her. In the sense that Pepper wouldn't intentionally do something she knew would be harmful, she'll be very careful. But for the unknown? She's willing to risk playing with a little fire. Besides, Bakura and Vee both will be there to back her up.

The Knight smiles at Raine with reserved appreciation. Your curiosity about me is of interest, she says in what might be an amused tone.

"That's all I can ask," Raine says reluctantly. She would love better guarantees. She won't get them. All she can do is stand by at this point and be ready to heal anything and everything she can.

Raine blinks at the Knight, though, a little bemused by the implicit question. "Of course I'm curious," she says. "I'm a scholar and a mage. The natures of the worlds are of special interest to me, for a number of reasons. Further, I've only met one other manifested ka, but that one is not especially inclined to conversation." Who wouldn't be curious, is what her tone implies-- she doesn't see how anyone could be faced with such a unique phenomenon and not have tens of questions.

"I promise I'll let you know how it goes, like, immediately."

Not having guarantees is what makes it fun. Pepper probably won't have her soul removed. Probably. And she hopes Raine won't worry too much.

I see. We are a subject of greater study, then. The Knight's smile grows by a fraction, and she glances back at Pepper for a moment. That is quite novel. I can see why the Lady calls you a friend, Raine Sage.

Probably would not be at all reassuring, if Pepper had said it aloud. As things are, Raine just nods, a little resignedly. She appreciates being kept in the loop, at the very least.

Especially since Bakura's version of warning is 'listen for the explosions.'

"Novel?" Raine repeats, frowning. "Why should that be novel?" A beat, realizing. "I suppose if you'd never met any scientists before..."

But she is glad, to hear the last.

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For you are made of nebulas and novas and night sky...

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