tushanshu_logs | All smiles, I know what it takes to fool this town

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All smiles, I know what it takes to fool this town

Characters: Pepper Potts, Yami no Bakura and you!
Date: Throughout May
Location: Sky Sector, Jade Dojo, and around the city.
Situation: Things have been tumultuous lately, what with Milyn and Meisheng and the police force and family reunions. They don't look to be getting much less tumultuous any time soon.
Warnings/Rating: None yet, will add to specific starters.

A. Jade Dojo | Mid May | Bakura
Pepper is a loud person. It's a defining feature of her personality. The past few weeks have been... a little too noisy, even for her. The house hasn't exactly been bustling, but with everything that's happened in the city, it isn't quiet either. Plus, the family reunions (good and bad) had rattled them all in one way or another. The three of them together could, at times, be a recipe for a downward spiral of angst.

It's not terribly late when she decides to leave the house and head for the dojo, but it's late enough that the place will assuredly be empty. She hangs her coat up properly this time, and walks to where the swords are kept. Maintenance on the weapons would have already been done for the day, but she takes one down anyway, picking up a stone with her free hand and sitting carefully on the floor at the edge of the sparring mat. Folding her fingers against the stone, Pepper slowly runs it along the blade, hoping to replicate the meditative rhythm Bakura employs.

B. Fire Sector | Mid May | China
Well, things are moving right along on the government front. Or at least on the police front. But the problem of the cultists remains, and since China was so helpful in revealing one cell, she might be able to find others. There's more, though; more that China could be helpful about for her own gain as well as giving the government another boost. So, despite Pepper's dislike of the mage, she's going to see her again. With enough exposure, hopefully errands like this won't require several hours of mental preparation. The knock on China's door is far less annoyed than the last time the redhead stopped by.

C. Around Keeliai | Throughout the month | Open
With the growth of the fledgling police department, they're going to need a central location. The Sky Sector seems like the best option still, and so Pepper can be found scoping out possible options, asking about building sizes and functions. And for anyone who asks, she'll also explain why she's looking at buildings in the first place. Most of the time, she just gets skeptical looks, but some of the kedan engage in conversations longer than a minute.

Sometimes, she just wanders. Retail therapy occasionally features as the primary cause for an outing, especially at the start of the month. It might be obvious to anyone who has shopped with her before that she's not as enthusiastic as usual, likely because of the disappearance of her dad at the end of April. A few times, she might even be caught staring blankly into space while sitting in a cafe, a rare thing for her. Still, there's work to be done and a government to build, and she tries to keep busy - it's not difficult to achieve.

(OOC: let me know if you'd like a specific starter! :D)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

She's only there a few minutes when the air surrounding her gains a kind of ethereal static charge to it, that Pepper would now be able to associate with the ghosts' presence. It isn't long after that when Bakura comes to the door leading into the office, leaning against the frame, hands curled around a steaming mug.

"Evening, biahbenat."

The crackle of the ghosts around her head means Bakura knows she's here before she sees him. She continues to slide the stone along the blade until she hears his voice, pausing mid-motion.

"Hey." Pepper looks up and gives him a half-hearted smile. "I hope I didn't wake you up this time."

He shook his head, indicating his mug. "I was reading, that's all."

Reading and making notes, specifically; information on the various planes, as much as the kedan knew about them. He was purposely staying away from the Foreigner-discovered information at the moment, although he didn't know how much longer he'd be able to avoid pursuing that, given the demon's growing impatience.

But he can set it aside, for now. Bakura nods at the sword in her hands, a smirk appearing.

"Worried I've been slacking off?"

He knew that wasn't the reason she was here, but it gave her the option of leading the conversation.

She is more than happy to distract Bakura from completing a graduate degree in ending the world for a few minutes, even if she doesn't know she's doing it.

Her smile brightens a little at his remark, and she glances down at the weapon before shaking her head.

"Nah - you keep things sharp enough." Swords, words, his mind, etc. Pepper carefully tests the edge of the blade with her thumb, as if to demonstrate her point. "You always seem so... relaxed when you do this. Calm. Like nothing else is on your mind." She shrugs. "Calm is way more appealing than hitting things right now."

He pushes off the door frame with a shoulder and comes over to sit next to her. "It can be," he agreed. "I've always liked that it gave me something to concentrate on... it does help block other things out."

She tracks his movement out of the corner of her eye, tilting her head in his direction as he sits.

"It's simple. Not much else is right now." Pepper makes another few strokes with the stone. Her smile faded. "My dad went home. I can't decide if I'd rather block that out or not."

Edited (phone autocorrect :/) 2016-05-12 04:25 (UTC)

Bakura is quiet for a moment, tracking her motions with the sharpening stone. "You knew he would," he said finally, carefully neutral. "And you know now that he's back home."

"Keeliai was starting to feel like home. It still is." She sets the stone down between them, holding the sword out in front of her and looking down the length of it. "It's like... one side of the sword is home, and the other is here. And trying to be part of both just means everything hurts because you're standing on a blade."

Pepper settles the sword back onto her lap, her shoulders lifting in a sigh.

"I'm glad he got to see Keeliai, though. Even for a little while."

Bakura nodded, understanding the analogy. It was something he felt as well, although one side of the blade has been dulled.

"And I'm pleased you got to see hm, even temporarily. Meeting him... I enjoyed it. You two are very alike."

"He takes after me," she joked, a small smile returning. "It was super cool to bring him here. I didn't think he'd be so accepting about everything - especially the magic. Honestly I think he was a little more freaked out about the idea of me fighting without armor on than summoning anything." Pepper shook her head, a fond look on her face. "Dad logic, I guess."

"Of course," Bakura replied lightly. "My mistake."

"People who have not known their ka don't understand what it's like to have one at your side," the thief answered with a shrug. "It's not really something that's easy to describe, how different it is from relying on another person."

He tilted his head at her remark about 'dad logic'. "Is he not typical in that way, then?" he asked, a genuinely uninformed curiosity prompting the inquiry.

"He is, in a way. I think being a parent just makes you feel differently about things. Like I'm not properly protected if he can't see what's protecting me. I've always wanted in on fights and he's always wanted me out of them - parents protect their children to the death, and kaa are a little outside his gut-reaction zone for knowing I'm okay," she elaborated. Then she laughed, practically a snort, and lifted the sword off her lap.

"Either that or he just thinks I'm going to be more trouble than I was before learning to use one of these and I'll run after any criminal that moves. He still doesn't know I went after Whiplash with literally nothing," she said, shaking her head. "Children'll protect parents to the death, too."

Bakura's smile in response to that is, for all its brittle pain, a genuine one. "Sometimes beyond, biahbenat," he said. "Sometimes beyond."

Then he shook his head, looking again at the sword she held. "Did you tell him all the things you're accomplishing here?"

She doesn't have to say more - he gets it. He probably understood better than anyone ever could.

"Yeah. He's basically a federal cop, so he knows the ropes when it comes to policing - obviously he's a little worried I'm attracting attention I wouldn't want but it's a little late for that. I keep telling people that if anyone tries coming after me they're not only going to have a really hard time, but they're gonna regret it a lot." Pepper smiled more broadly this time, some of the homesickness and the sadness ebbing away. "He wasn't super surprised that I'm getting into trouble like starting a government."

"Of course," Bakura agreed. "If there's anything left of them after dealing with you, they're going to have a very unhappy set of companions on your heels. You truly believe that's what the kedan need, however?"

"I think they need something that isn't Yunxu or anyone like him, and something that isn't Eshai, either," Pepper clarified. "And I think the kedan could be real game-changers on this planet if they're given the chance to govern themselves."

She looked out into the empty space in front of them, pensive.

"Yunxu wasn't a choice; he was a default. I just want them to have options and to know they have options, and to know they can change those options."

"And should their options be something that we recognize as a very poor decision?" he raised an eyebrow. "What if they elect to keep Yunxu in power? Especially if it's by a very close margin against those who wish him removed? Democracy is a terrible system, by the way, and I say that as someone who came from a very unpleasant monarchy."

Pepper laughed and shook her head.

"Yeah, it's a bit of a mess sometimes. But if that's who the kedan end up choosing... well, then at least it's a choice. Our job would be to make sure it's not a close margin because of fraud or corruption or whatever, and then let term limits take care of the rest. I mean, we'd have to get term limits in place to start with, but I don't think that'll be too hard of a sell." She hummed thoughtfully. "Just because someone gets elected doesn't mean they get to play tyrant - there need to be checks and balances and representation and judges for this to work, even if it'll never be perfect. The point and the hope is that everyone keeps trying to make it a better system, and that's something I'm totally on board with fighting for."

"From an objective standpoint," he mentions, "you have to realize that it comes across as still giving Foreigners the ultimate say in who rules the kedan. Certainly some of them will see it like that as well."

"They might," she has to agree. It's a careful line to walk and sometimes they're all going to stumble. This whole thing with Milyn was a prime example.

"I'm hoping 'we' doesn't mean just Foreigners. There have to be at least a few kedan who can be as impartial as it's possible to be - honestly I'd rather keep Foreigners as far out of it as possible and as soon as possible. Like... making shoes and then letting someone else fill them."

Bakura hummed. "Hopefully the kedan will see it the same way, biahbenat," he replied. "But if you think of some way I can help..."

"Hope is good," Pepper said, smiling. She knew that Bakura was not a fan of government (to put it mildly), and for good reason, so his offer to help was both surprising and welcome. "I'll let you know. Keeping me on my toes about everything is a pretty decent place to start. And this," she adds, gesturing to the dojo in general and by extension all the things she's done here: learning to fight, learning magic, having a place to vent. "So basically just keep doing what you're already doing unless I come up with something better."

"That much I should be able to do," he acknowledges. "No doubt you'll have plenty of ideas come up later to spring on me," he adds, smirking.

"Probably. Gotta return the favor and keep you on your toes, too," she replied, bumping him with an elbow. "I should probably head home, try to get some sleep. Thank you, again, for letting me come here."

China, as is her wont, taps a sigil at the door to turn it transparent from her side. She pauses to consider Pepper standing there, notes the lower amount of annoyance, and in a moment she turns the door opaque again and pulls it open.

She raises her eyebrows at Pepper. "How lovely to see you again," she says, with somewhat less effusiveness than the sentiment would normally warrant. "What brings you here, my dear?"

Edited (i'm smart) 2016-05-13 05:47 (UTC)

Perhaps the only thing more distracting than China's eyes were her eyebrows; both features spoke mysterious and deadly volumes without actually saying anything. It was easy to get lost in them, which was always a bad idea around China. And the tone with which she does speak isn't exactly music to Pepper's ears, particularly when she's already in a magic-induced state of fangirldom.

"You do." Well, duh. Also: slightly embarrassing. She clears her throat and starts again. "Your skills, I mean. There's a ground floor that's getting built and a palace that needs taking down - still interested?"

Pepper has more to explain, but given that they're in the Fire sector, she'd prefer to say it indoors, even if that means having to go into China's ~~cave~~ apartment.

"Of course I do," China says merrily, her visible mood ticking up slightly. She smiles a little, a gentle curve of her lips, and she lets Pepper start again.

The query makes somewhat more logical sense than Pepper simply wanting to see her, especially considering who else Pepper is friends with. "It really isn't that much of a palace," China says idly, of Tu Yunxu's mansion, which is what she assumes Pepper means. Beneath the meaningless little comment she's considering, recalling the offer Pepper made her.

"Of course," she says in a moment more. "Won't you come in, my dear?" She has, of course, come to the same conclusion about talking out in the open.

"It's not, but I like the metaphor," Pepper admits of Yunxu's mansion. Leader of the Snakes = King Cobra and so on.

She takes the space of a breath to steel herself before stepping into China's apartment. Going inside was perhaps just as problematic as staying on her doorstep, but the potential length of the conversation didn't lend itself to door frames and welcome mats.

"Thanks." No sense in not being polite. "Any more news on those cultists you outed?"

"Let's not lend him that much grandeur, my dear." China shuts the door behind Pepper and sweeps toward her sitting room, casually elegant as ever. "Would you care for tea?" she inquires, form-perfect about her politeness. "I have a new blend that's proven excellent."

She's already opening the teapot to check what leaves are in it, a little piece of business which really isn't strictly necessary. "Not precisely," she says after a moment. She hums thoughtfully, absently, sounding distracted. She probably isn't. "Something of their past business, that's all. Hardly relevant to your current problem."

She can live with not giving Yunxu any grandeur, but sometimes codes were useful. Pepper hesitates, unsure if it was wiser to take her up on the offer of tea or risk insulting her.

"Yeah, sure. Tea's always good." Unless it's poisoned. But China probably knows better than to poison her. Probably.

"Maybe not directly relevant to writing a constitution, but anything that means getting rid of them for good is a help," she begins, looking around the apartment more freely than she could the first time she visited the mage. It's very nicely furnished, for an interrogation room. "Have you heard anything about Yunxu's attacker by any chance?"

China's not going to be that blatant, dear. For Pepper, the tea is just tea. And it's been years since she poisoned anyone, really. China has a tea-tray set out already, as if she plans to entertain guests at any given moment, and she measures leaves into the pot with a careful sort of idleness. The pot already has water in it; when she lids it she presses her fingers to the ring of fine sigils around it, which glow faintly.

The pot steams.

"It will have steeped in a few minutes," she says, waving that hand as she turns back to Pepper, observing Pepper's observation. "And regrettably, it's past business that doesn't lend itself to leverage." Note how she does not say the word blackmail out loud.

"The one who got away? No." At this China frowns, marring her porcelain-perfect features with it for some few moments. "However... tell me, my dear, what does it mean if I have heard not even a whisper?" This isn't a query for her edification: it's pointed, wanting to see if Pepper will draw the right conclusion.

Pepper is not entirely a stranger to instantaneous water heating - Gene somewhat regularly uses the rings to make tea when he's in a level enough state of mind. Still, she hasn't seen much in the way of sigil use outside of the Hotel, and it's intriguing nonetheless that they can be used for such a purpose.

"Does it lend itself to learning about their thought process?" Because she's less interested in blackmail and more interested in learning how they operate and what their goals are. Rhetoric was valuable, even if it was dated.

She frowns slightly at the query - China had a habit of asking questions she already knew the answer to, and Pepper is a little bit chagrined that she always feels a desperate need to get the 'correct' answer from her point of view.

"Someone has a stranglehold on the information," she replies, frowning slightly. "Like a serious mega stranglehold, and that's all different kinds of interesting and weird and suggestive."

China lifts one shoulder, in half a careless shrug. "Perhaps. Shall we say, not all in their employ have full knowledge of goals and means. Interesting: but not entirely surprising, and not useful as a wedge with no one in evidence to leverage it on." This is not by a long shot the full summation, but she moves on briskly, dropping that subject.

Pepper has, in any case, hit on the point China was trying to make. Good. Her lips curve upward, in a minuscule but pleased smile. "Isn't it?" she returns, lightly. "It's always interesting to me when someone actively conceals information. There's been much less talk about that attack than I'd have expected."

She gives it a moment more, then pours tea for both of them. It's a delicate pale green shade, and her cups are delicate and pretty, and the entire thing is almost too nice to bear using. She offers Pepper a cup first.

"So they're compartmentalized. Well, that's just annoying," she observes, and leaves it at that as well.

Pepper takes the offered cup carefully, both because she doesn't want to drop it and because she's still minutely suspicious. But hey - China is giving her something! This is great! Or at the very least, her magic makes it seem so. It does smell good, she has to admit.

"Almost like it didn't happen," she says, frowning slightly. "The person who attacked him wasn't the same one that attacked Milyn - but it makes it look like Yunxu was a target, too. But Meisheng insisted he did order the hit and it's kind of hard to figure out who's telling the truth."

Regardless, it's not the whole story. Of that she's very sure.

Annoying is correct. China inclines her head in amused agreement.

"They do seem confused about each other, don't they," she comments, setting her own cup down and sitting opposite Pepper. It's almost idle. "Which do you think is more likely? That Tu Yunxu is lying, or that there is some break in communication between him and Meisheng?"

There's not much difference in her bearing, but this time she actually is genuinely looking for Pepper's opinion, if only because China herself hasn't been able to decide. The Snakes present a fascinating and knotty political problem.

"He does gain something from looking like a target, doesn't he," she adds as an aside, pausing for a sip of tea afterward.

"Yunxu is almost always lying, and when he's not lying he's being manipulative, so I'm not going to trust anything he says, frankly," Pepper replies immediately. "I don't know Meisheng very well, but she comes across as a lot more straightforward."

She takes a careful sip of tea, frowning.

"He gets deniability. Meisheng admitted to trying to kill Milyn - people don't normally do that to mislead anyone. And she had a radio, too. She wanted to talk to just us; even if she doesn't trust us, she still decided to tell the Foreigners instead of the city as a whole. Hm."

Pepper is mostly talking through the issue, not with any real conclusion; throwing things at a wall and seeing what sticks, or what China hooks.

"The appearance would be that Meisheng trusts us more than she trusts her own brother," China says, consideringly. "Perhaps that's true. And perhaps there are people who benefit from that appearance, as well. As for Tu Yunxu..."

She shakes her head, sets her cup of tea down again. "He has so successfully muddied the waters that no one knows what to believe about him. That has its own benefit, as well." Not her style, but interesting.

"I got to speak with him during the truth party a few months ago - he wants to keep things the way they are in Keeliai, and he wants to keep the city out of any intruder's hands. The lengths he'll go to for that, I don't really know. Pretending to be attacked doesn't sound beyond him, and neither does trying to kill Milyn and having his sister do it for him."

He had said he wouldn't interfere with her attempts at building a government or a police force, and thus far he's kept that up, but who knows if he'll change his mind.

"He also mentioned something about a hopeless fight before he shut his trap," she adds, recalling that detail now. "Not sure what he meant, or if it's even any kind of relevant now, but it was interesting seeing him without his suave guard up."

Ah, the truth party. China hadn't gone; she was not at all enamoured with the thought of truth forced from her. And even when she'd spent much of that time indoors, she'd still managed to run afoul of Skulduggery Pleasant.

"The status quo," China says. "Of course. He certainly has enough power. Or had." The power base is shaking, with all the doubts and the organization by other Foreigners. "Obfuscation would certainly serve to sow confusion about where he's losing ground."

A hopeless fight is interesting detail. China arches an eyebrow. "I imagine it would be," she murmurs, keeping all the interest she feels out of her tone. "Did he say anything else in close conjunction?"

"No, he changed the subject pretty quickly - he asked how we were doing on waking Tu Vishan up. Well, he called the turtle Asti, but same idea I guess." Pepper shrugs in the chair before taking another sip of tea. It's pretty good, all things considered.

"I just want to get to the bottom of this. Meisheng and Milyn both have a lot to answer for, and Yunxu does to, but we can't prove things one way or another very well right now," she says, sounding a little frustrated. "I figure if anyone is going to get a clearer picture of things, it's you."

"Ah, yes. Asti." China's heard conflicting reports on that front, whether Asti is Tu Vishan or was only Malicant.

Her mouth curves up fractionally at Pepper's compliment-- even if it's true, it's nice to be appreciated in a city where she's had to establish her reputation all over again. "Of course it is," she murmurs. "Regrettably, the picture I have is incomplete, but I'm just as intrigued in where the missing pieces fall. Some, of course, would simply suggest clearing the board."

She's more or less blank-faced, not revealing whether any of those some include her.

"If it comes down to a he-said-she-said argument, yeah, maybe. But I don't like letting things go, and I really don't want to let this go." Pepper sighs. "Valdis and I have been talking about Meisheng - we think she'd make a good leader in the city, but that can't happen if she doesn't take responsibility the way she should - if she should. At least for Milyn's attack, but if it was on orders that changes things. I'd just like to, you know, be as sure as we can get. If you hear anything I'd appreciate a heads up."

"And she already has the connections. How helpful." China has heard worse ideas than putting Meisheng in charge of the Snakes, and possibly more of the kedan. She's not half the danger her brother is at the moment.

She considers a few moments longer. "If I hear some change, I'll let you know. You may owe me a favour if it comes to that, my dear."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

All smiles, I know what it takes to fool this town

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I am the slowest I'm sorry

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