tushanshu_logs | i won't leave any doubt [May, catchall, open]

Entry tags:

i won't leave any doubt [May, catchall, open]

Characters: Raine Sage and OPEN
Date: May, most of it
Location: Keeliai. Healers' Guild, Earth Sector, assorted other
Situation: many, lots.
Warnings/Rating: None currently, will update if that changes

A | Healers' Guild | OPEN

Raine can be found at the Healers' Guild perhaps even more often now, even though she was supposed to be delegating to free up more of her time. With the recent loss of some personnel, and a recent brush with friends from home as well, she's been working as hard as she can, and possibly forgetting to take as many breaks as she should. At any point during most days she can be found tending patients, or in her office working at any number of administrative tasks, or making a beeline from point A to point B, walking briskly and with purpose. She's rarely in the entrance hall, but any kedan volunteer can point out where the head of the Guild has gotten to at most times.

Fairly generally, if she leaves on time, it's because someone else has reminded her to, whether it's Solomon coming to pull her away from things or one of her coworkers reminding her about the fine art of delegation.

There is only one instance in which she falls asleep on her desk.

After the seventh of the month, there will be one or two instances in which she can be found at the empty pool in the courtyard, looking visibly and unusually troubled.

B | markets | OPEN

Raine, mid-errands, has a basket under one arm and appears to have been sidetracked (yet again) by her questionable cooking choices. This is currently manifesting in the shape of a conversation with a shopkeeper about sea prunes.

She herself is intent, brow furrowed and questioning earnestly. The kedan appears somewhat more concerned. "No," he's saying, "you can't put sea prunes in cake."

Raine does not appear to believe him.

C | a particular tavern | closed to Lin and Pepper)

Finally following up on the lead Solomon uncovered for her regarding last month's anonymous donation, Raine goes from kedan orderly to a specific tavern where she has been told they usually drink, around the hours that would make sense for such a thing. She really should have made time for this earlier, but the practicalities of running the Guild combined with the pressures of the Milyn problems only made her busyness mount, instead of easing.

In contrast, it's almost pleasantly simple just to go out to a tavern with a friend. Even if there is an ulterior motive. Raine invited Pepper half because she really could use a second point of view on this problem, and half because she wanted an excuse to spend time with a friend, in the middle of everything else that's happening.

She's looking for a scrawny kedan with colourful hair and a stutter, and she'll head his way when she spots him.

D | wildcard | open

[ooc; if you have questions about the Healers' Guild, or questions in general, or want to plot, drop me a pm here or at

makaricrow c: Or just throw things at me, that's cool too!]

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Barhopping held very little interest for Pepper. Going to a bar in order to seek out information, as part of an investigation - now that was interesting. And spending time with Raine is never a waste, regardless of the circumstance.

She had been very tempted to bring the armor along - oh so very tempted - but it's unlikely that she'll need it. Even so, Pepper has the dagger Solomon gave her hidden in her boot, and the Duelist Gauntlet in her bag. It's become something of a habit to bring them out with her.

"Is this the part where we bribe the bartender to give us intel?" she asks cheerfully, eyes shining as she takes in the details of the tavern.

Raine has, despite the trials and tribulations of the world regeneration journey, not once been called upon to bribe a bartender for information. She gives Pepper an amused look, and shakes her head. "That shouldn't be necessary," she says. "I'm informed that this is a regular location for the person we're looking for, and he's apparently fairly distinctive."

She herself glances around once more, and finally orients on someone matching the description given. "Here," she says to Pepper. "This way, I think." And Raine leads her toward the kedan she's assuming is Lin, colorful hair and all. "Excuse me," she says, when they're near enough to be within earshot despite the ambient noise of the tavern.

Lin is situated on the edges of a group, some Woodsmen and some not, but all laughing and drinking together. They aren't ignoring him--every now and then he contributes to the conversation--but when Raine and Pepper get close, he looks up, still smiling at a joke one of the others was telling.

"Hi," he says, and sidles over a seat, so there's a little more distance between him and the others. "You're th- the healer, right?" He pointed at Pepper, grinning. "And you t- t- told ol' groundcrawler what's what."

"Someday, it'll be necessary," Pepper mutters quietly to herself as she follows Raine across towards their quarry.

The kedan with the colorful mane is, apparently, the one they're looking for. And also, apparently, he knows who they both are. Pepper is a little surprised she's recognized so readily, but she had told Yunxu off in a public space and she's spent the past few months talking with a lot of kedan. Maybe it shouldn't be that surprising.

"I- uh, yeah. That was me." At least it sounds like he's a compatriot in disliking the Snake. "I'm Pepper; you must be Lin."

Raine herself isn't entirely surprised to be recognized. She offers a small, polite smile in return, and a nod. "That's correct; I'm Raine Sage. I have a question for you, if you have a moment to spare? Regarding the ingredients of a particular healing agent. I was led to believe you might be able to help me."

She's careful to phrase it in such a way that it should protect his privacy from anyone close enough to overhear -- after all, it's perfectly reasonable to inquire to a Woodsman about the growth of plants, isn't it?

"Yeah," says Lin, but that was to Pepper; at Raine's words he looks ... not precisely surprised, but a bit uncomfortable. "I was hoping you'd forgot- t- ten ab- bout th- that," he mumbles, glancing back toward the rest of the group. They'd taken a while in tracking him down. Then he perks up. "Unless you're just looking for more?"

Lin doesn't seem especially pleased at this line of inquiry, but that tended to happen when things that are done anonymously get uncovered.

"Curiosity makes things hard to forget," Pepper offers with a shrug. And Raine's curiosity is why they're here. For now, she'll let the healer take the lead with this conversation.

Raine nods to Pepper, agreeing with the sentiment. "While I think it might be beneficial to set up some way to get a hold of more, I believe the supply is adequate for now. No, my questions were more-- specific." She offers a small smile, politely apologetic. "I wanted to know more about where it came from, of course, and potential allergens, but there was one other matter of curiosity, as well. Would you prefer somewhere else?"

"All th- them details should've been with the d- d- delivery," Lin insists, not seeing to notice Raine's offer to move elsewhere. "All th- the medical st- tuff, I mean. Why's it matt- ter where it came from so long as you've got th- that?"

"Sometimes questions need to be answered. For science," Pepper says and tries not to look too amused. "We're not trying to get you into any trouble, we promise."

For science. Raine tries not to look too amused, as her purpose here is serious, but her mouth quirks faintly anyway. "It matters," she tells Lin quietly, levelly, "because when someone purposefully obscuring their identity attempts to ensure that one particular person receive something, it begins to look... peculiar."

She has chosen peculiar instead of suspicious since Lin already seems defensive; and, in any case, there are as many possible positive reasons as negative. It's simply an explanation for why. "I only want to be sure of all the facts," she says. "I have no interest in getting you into trouble."

"Ain't peculiar t- to us," Lin grumbles, and rubs his hands over his face. "Say you've got a family member who's narky around half th- the family. He d- doesn't wanna know who's sending th- the gift, does he? Even if he knows, he won't know, so he can keep on pret- tending it was a random act, see? Keeps th- things peaceful."

That certainly hadn't been the answer Pepper was anticipating, but it makes more than a little sense. The balance of power and politics in Keeliai was sometimes held by unexpected threads. If Yunxu doesn't 'know' who helped him, he doesn't owe anyone a debt; and the holder of the debt doesn't become the focus of his ire.

"So it's like saving face in reverse? Huh."

It doesn't -- quite -- make sense to Raine at first, but she stops to think about it, head tilted a little. It sounds, frankly, like politics given the name of family ties.

It's also implying to her that Lin is somehow Tu Yunxu's family, which... can't be right. Hm. But Lin's boss, perhaps?

Raine blows her breath out, and shakes her head. "My apologies," she says. "My only family for a long time was my brother; the niceties of extended family are in some ways still beyond me." This doesn't erase her suspicion, but it does ease it, somehow, especially seeing that this apparently makes perfect sense to Pepper. "Is that all it is? Family?"

"Th- that." Lin points emphatically at Pepper. "All," he repeats, shaking his head with something close to sad incredulity. "Family is everyth- thing. I've wondered--"

He hesitates, then, but squares his shoulders and asks with honest curiosity and something near to pity: "Are most Foreigners orphans? Even th- the ones who have been here for years d- don't seem to get it. L- like you've n- never had to th- think about how what you do affects a group."

Oh, she gets it. She's just never had to deal with family politics on this scale because her family wasn't that big. Lin's comment is a bit critical, but he's got a point.

"No, I think most of us have at least some family. Just... small enough that offering help doesn't mess with entire city," Pepper replies. "It's not a way most of us are used to thinking."

She can't speak for all the Foreigners, but on the whole it was a reasonable assumption.

"Most of those I know well enough to say have outlived what family they had," Raine says, skirting whether it was by time or violence. Of her close friends, she can name perhaps two, maybe three, with happy and whole home lives, Pepper among them. "It's possible to make someone your family by choice, of course, but-- I don't think it can be the same, as growing up with a family in the way you'd mean it."

Bakura may as well be adopted by this point, certainly, but his family died, and new bonds don't change that.

"I've seen how what one of us does reflects on the others, more or less," she continues, thoughtful -- she's been here long enough to have some grasp of the greater movements of things, at least. "But Pepper's right; those of us who have family left, for the most part, have only a few people. Therefore, broadly, the tendency would be to focus closely, and not on a large group. I suppose it isn't surprising that it seems we don't... get it."

Judging by the look on Lin's face, he couldn't imagine anything like that. "Even small families have big families," he insisted. "Orphaned kids get t- t- taken in. Th- that's all th- the gangs are, really. Families who had t- to make th- themselves. Say what you will, but th- they understand how t- to hold t- t- together."

He rubs his forehead, is brow furrowed, and one of his companions a few feet behind apparently takes that as an opportunity to call out: "Are you coming back or not? Celebration's not over yet!"

Lin gives them a grin somewhere between sheepish and anxious. "S'at all you n- need?"

Coming from a city of eight million people, Pepper's sense of scale with this kind of thing is a bit skewed. Then again, mobs had once run a great deal of New York City, and those were definitely families of the kind Lin is referring to. Perhaps she needs to think a little more Gotham and a little less Manhattan.

"I think I got the picture," Pepper says, turning to Raine with her eyebrows raised in wordless question.

"I wouldn't be surprised if half our misunderstandings come from this one source," Raine sighs, and she shakes her head. "Yes; thank you for your time. You've given me what I needed, and something to think about besides."

She nods to Pepper, agreeing, and flicks her gaze back to Lin. "May I contact you again, should we run through our current stock? I don't anticipate it will be any time soon, but I'd prefer to be prepared. Just in case."

Lin hesitates for a moment. "Guess so," he says at last. "I could maybe get more. Don't wanna guarantee it, th- though. Th- this t- time was kind of a personal gift. I'll see what I can d- d- do."

"C'mon, we need to celebrate the baby firecracker!"

At this, Lin gives them a smile that's practically dazzling, and slides off his stool to head back to his friends, unless one of them stops him.

Pepper makes no move to stop Lin, turning to glance at Raine.

"Well. That explained a lot and now I have even more questions than I did before, I think," she remarks, tilting her head to the side. "Did you get what you needed?"

"I think so," Raine says thoughtfully, and waves Lin a short farewell, a quick little flutter of her fingers before turning back to Pepper. "I agree; there are more questions than when I began. However, it's answered what I needed for now. Thank you for accompanying me, Pepper."

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i won't leave any doubt [May, catchall, open]

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just wrapping up here don't mind me