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tushanshu_logs2017-04-05 01:33 pm
lasergrenades) wrote in tushanshu_logs2017-04-05 01:33 pm
I am flesh and I am bone | April Catchall
Characters: Pepper Potts, Devin Parker, and you!
Date: Throughout April
Location: Jade Dojo, Sky Sector, all over Keeliai.
Situation: Pepper's living her life, and Devin is getting dumped into Keeliai a little maimed.
Warnings/Rating: Possible mention of murder and probably blood, specific warnings in headers.
A. [Pepper] Jade Dojo | Backdated to end of March | Heather
As promised, Pepper got up early and made her way to the dojo at a time that was unusual for her. She normally trained in the afternoons, so this was a big change of pace. There was no guarantee that she and Heather would make good partners, but it would be interesting to try. It would also give her a chance to get a read on Heather, since Pepper hadn't interacted with her much before now. She hung up her jacket and pulled a set of long, thin cloth wraps and began to circle them around her hands; once they were secured, Pepper began to warm up, keeping an eye out for Heather's arrival.
B. [Pepper] House Spicy Iron Dragon | Early April | Gene
The weather is getting almost reasonable, and on one of the days where it's a bit sunnier, Pepper goes out into the backyard and does some practice summoning. She's getting better at it, and higher level monsters are slowly getting easier to summon, but she still has pretty strict limits. That doesn't diminish her determination - if anything, it makes her push harder. Vee is there, too, standing off to the side with less armor on, observing. Pepper will occasionally speak to her like her ka has said something, although the creature's lips never move.
C. [Pepper] KPD | Throughout April | Open
The new Guild system has definitely stirred things up in the city, and there's a rash of thefts hitting Foreigners that suggests it's systematic. The destruction of the spirit houses is also concerning, although fortunately it doesn't seem to be escalating badly. Pepper is pretty busy, spending a lot of time out on patrols and talking with kedan as well as Foreigners to see if they have any information. Busy or not, she's in a good mood most of the time if anyone bumps into her.
D. [Devin; CW: burns, possibly blood] Healer's Guild | April 5 | Raine
The ground is a lot smoother than he expects. There's a ringing in his ears and he can tell he’d be dead if he hadn’t known what was coming. As it is, his back is charred from the explosion. It was a small price to pay for getting the hunters and the dossier out. He can feel them start to heal, but his wounds must be worse than he thought – someone is saying something, putting a hand on his shoulder and Devin can only lay there, stunned. The person sounds worried, and Devin tries to tell them he'll be fine, to leave him here. To run. It doesn't come out particularly coherently.
Whoever it is doesn't listen, and two sets of strong arms are lifting him off the ground to a standing position, which he couldn’t have managed himself. This is bad, that he can't orient himself properly or see straight. At some point, he must have lost consciousness, because next he opens his eyes he's being led into a building and there's a flurry of activity that ends with him face-down on a gurney.
"I can't stay here," Devin mutters, trying to get out of the bed, but the hands keep pushing him back down. Devin is stronger, though, and he stumbles vertical again, searching for a door. "I don't need your help."
E. [Devin; CW: blood] Thoughout Keeliai | Throughout April | Open
As soon as Devin is fully recovered, he gets out into the city. The situation has him on edge, the fact that his agency has been violated again setting a semi-permanent frown on his face. Devin is familiar with a few different planes of existence, so the idea of Keeliai isn't something he outright rejects. After a week or two, he accepts that he's stuck. From what Devin can tell, he's the only one of his kind here.
That should have been something of a relief, Devin reflects, but it also meant that he's adrift without purpose. What is he supposed to do with himself? Almost all of his energy back home had been spent hunting. Devin can't remember the last time he took a vacation.
Long story short, Devin is not in a good mood most of the month, somewhere between lost and agitated. He does need to find a way to live, though, so when he's not at the Hotel (which he hopes he won't have to stay at for an extended time) he's wandering around and observing, taking in every detail he can, and looking for a niche to fit in.
F. [Devin] Turtle's Head | Mid April | Open
The rumors of the serenity of being near Tu Vishan's beak are appealing amidst the turmoil of Devin's arrival and the impending problem of finding a food source has him troubled enough that he hikes out there one day. The sight of it, actually getting confirmation of what it is he'd standing on, is grounding and the calming influence of a being so much greater than him is familiar in a way. At least this trip doesn't come with a migraine. He spends a few hours there, mostly standing at the shell's edge and staring out at the sea, thinking through his options.
(OOC: Let me know if you want a specific starter or feel free to write your own adventure!)
Date: Throughout April
Location: Jade Dojo, Sky Sector, all over Keeliai.
Situation: Pepper's living her life, and Devin is getting dumped into Keeliai a little maimed.
Warnings/Rating: Possible mention of murder and probably blood, specific warnings in headers.
A. [Pepper] Jade Dojo | Backdated to end of March | Heather
As promised, Pepper got up early and made her way to the dojo at a time that was unusual for her. She normally trained in the afternoons, so this was a big change of pace. There was no guarantee that she and Heather would make good partners, but it would be interesting to try. It would also give her a chance to get a read on Heather, since Pepper hadn't interacted with her much before now. She hung up her jacket and pulled a set of long, thin cloth wraps and began to circle them around her hands; once they were secured, Pepper began to warm up, keeping an eye out for Heather's arrival.
B. [Pepper] House Spicy Iron Dragon | Early April | Gene
The weather is getting almost reasonable, and on one of the days where it's a bit sunnier, Pepper goes out into the backyard and does some practice summoning. She's getting better at it, and higher level monsters are slowly getting easier to summon, but she still has pretty strict limits. That doesn't diminish her determination - if anything, it makes her push harder. Vee is there, too, standing off to the side with less armor on, observing. Pepper will occasionally speak to her like her ka has said something, although the creature's lips never move.
C. [Pepper] KPD | Throughout April | Open
The new Guild system has definitely stirred things up in the city, and there's a rash of thefts hitting Foreigners that suggests it's systematic. The destruction of the spirit houses is also concerning, although fortunately it doesn't seem to be escalating badly. Pepper is pretty busy, spending a lot of time out on patrols and talking with kedan as well as Foreigners to see if they have any information. Busy or not, she's in a good mood most of the time if anyone bumps into her.
D. [Devin; CW: burns, possibly blood] Healer's Guild | April 5 | Raine
The ground is a lot smoother than he expects. There's a ringing in his ears and he can tell he’d be dead if he hadn’t known what was coming. As it is, his back is charred from the explosion. It was a small price to pay for getting the hunters and the dossier out. He can feel them start to heal, but his wounds must be worse than he thought – someone is saying something, putting a hand on his shoulder and Devin can only lay there, stunned. The person sounds worried, and Devin tries to tell them he'll be fine, to leave him here. To run. It doesn't come out particularly coherently.
Whoever it is doesn't listen, and two sets of strong arms are lifting him off the ground to a standing position, which he couldn’t have managed himself. This is bad, that he can't orient himself properly or see straight. At some point, he must have lost consciousness, because next he opens his eyes he's being led into a building and there's a flurry of activity that ends with him face-down on a gurney.
"I can't stay here," Devin mutters, trying to get out of the bed, but the hands keep pushing him back down. Devin is stronger, though, and he stumbles vertical again, searching for a door. "I don't need your help."
E. [Devin; CW: blood] Thoughout Keeliai | Throughout April | Open
As soon as Devin is fully recovered, he gets out into the city. The situation has him on edge, the fact that his agency has been violated again setting a semi-permanent frown on his face. Devin is familiar with a few different planes of existence, so the idea of Keeliai isn't something he outright rejects. After a week or two, he accepts that he's stuck. From what Devin can tell, he's the only one of his kind here.
That should have been something of a relief, Devin reflects, but it also meant that he's adrift without purpose. What is he supposed to do with himself? Almost all of his energy back home had been spent hunting. Devin can't remember the last time he took a vacation.
Long story short, Devin is not in a good mood most of the month, somewhere between lost and agitated. He does need to find a way to live, though, so when he's not at the Hotel (which he hopes he won't have to stay at for an extended time) he's wandering around and observing, taking in every detail he can, and looking for a niche to fit in.
F. [Devin] Turtle's Head | Mid April | Open
The rumors of the serenity of being near Tu Vishan's beak are appealing amidst the turmoil of Devin's arrival and the impending problem of finding a food source has him troubled enough that he hikes out there one day. The sight of it, actually getting confirmation of what it is he'd standing on, is grounding and the calming influence of a being so much greater than him is familiar in a way. At least this trip doesn't come with a migraine. He spends a few hours there, mostly standing at the shell's edge and staring out at the sea, thinking through his options.
(OOC: Let me know if you want a specific starter or feel free to write your own adventure!)
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and half the army's trying to get in your pants as a resultmay have been a little out of the ordinary.He uses the edge of his knife to scrape everything from the cutting board into a pan and lights the burner. "Ah, that's okay!" Fai turns his head to grin at Devin over his shoulder. "Work doesn't have to be glamorous to be necessary. Cooking isn't especially glamorous but everyone needs to eat, don't they?"
A dash of this, a bit of that, and the smells coming from the sizzling pan are nothing short of mouth-watering. "If it helps, I'll keep imagining that you're a monster-slayer or a demon-hunter. That's a bit like pest control, isn't it?" The demons they'd encountered in Outo Country had certainly needed exterminating, even if they hadn't ended up being real at all.
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It helps, perhaps, that Fai is more focused on the pan and less on Devin in that moment; he smiles at the other man's imaginings of his 'work', but it's brittle. The expression smooths back to neutral after a second or two, the persona re-applied flawlessly.
"Monster-slayer would be another way of putting it, yes," Devin concedes. "That's not an inaccurate description. I'm the one getting hunted by the demons, though."
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"Ah, so your world does have demons and monsters?"
Fai turns to Devin, leaving the stir-fry for a moment to finish while they talk. He's never heard of a vampire who hunts monsters, but again he doesn't have much of a practical knowledge base on his own kind. "Then you keep people safe! You've been holding out on me, Sir Knight~" he adds, flashing Devin another sly smile and poking his spatula playfully toward the other man. "There are a lot of worlds out there with monsters who prey on humans. Monster hunting isn't an uncommon job at all. Some worlds even give their hunters special perks for keeping the rest of the population safe. But what do you mean, they hunt you?"
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Maintaining it is harder, and Devin sighs quietly. He does his best to keep people safe, but he's no knight.
"My world has vampires, myself among them." They're the only monsters. Do the math on that, Fai. "As for the demons...I have something they want rather desperately."
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"I'm sorry, I'm a little confused," he hears himself saying in a cheerful voice. "Are you saying you hunt vampires, as well as being one yourself? Why would you do that?"
Pest control, he called himself. Because we're vermin. Monsters. I'm a monster and I shouldn't even be alive.
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"Because we're creatures of destruction," Devin sighs. "Where I come from, we're practically built for it. My kind treat humans like property at best, and use our biological need as an excuse for brutality and depravity. We're bound to hell from the moment of our creation. Humans have enough problems without us being involved," he explains, staring a hole into the counter. "We have no place in the light; I'm simply returning my race to darkness, where we belong."
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But the ninja has sacrificed too much for him to let this life go, even if it's a waste of a life and Fai still doesn't know why he cares so much. Fai can't let that sacrifice go to waste by letting this hunter know what he is... if he hasn't figured it out already. The blond turns back to the stove to hide the way his hands are shaking, using the meal he's cooking as his excuse, and forces himself to keep up the smile in his voice when he speaks again.
"They can't all be bad, can they? I mean, you've been nothing but a gentleman so far. Aren't there others who feel the way you do?"
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"I don't generally give them the chance to articulate that," Devin tells him. "Unless I'm placed in a longer-term situation. I suppose there are some among our number that might be less objectionable, but the problem of our damnation remains. Vampires belong to hell." Then he shrugs. "As I said, I'm no knight. I deserve no titles, and frankly I'm a bit of a bastard. I'm very good at destroying things, but there's no use for me in a place like this."
Devin smiles coldly at Fai's back. "Fortunately, self-restraint is among the few valuable skills I can employ here. I've no interest in harming people."
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"I don't believe that." Fai turns, the skillet held in one hand with a potholder around the handle, the spatula in the other, and moves over to the plate he's already set out on the counter near Devin. He's still smiling, though at a lower intensity this time, as he plates the meal, his one blue eye trained for the moment on the food rather than on Devin. "I don't believe you're as bad as you think you are," he continues, softly. "Otherwise you wouldn't care about harming people, would you? You wouldn't care about saving humans from other vampires. You'd be just like the others, using people for what you need and then breaking them. Or you'd hide what you are instead of being honest about it--"
He has to stop. His own heartbeat is too loud in his ears and his hands are shaking again. The smile stays plastered on, a little too bright again.
He doesn't know he doesn't know he doesn't know
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"You don't have to be nice to me, Fai," Devin tells him, his tone about as blandly neutral as it can get. The other man is rattled, that's easy enough to see. The tremors in his hands, the pounding heartbeat he can detect when he listens a little harder (the thing that marks him as living, and - ironically - therefore what Devin fights to protect). "Pretended or otherwise. Nor do you have anything to fear from me. There really is no purpose or use for me here; any vampire that showed up would come back to life if I killed it, rendering the point of the whole thing rather moot."
He sighs again, and gestures to the plate. "I can take that to my room, if you'd prefer I leave you be. I can tend to the dishes afterwards. Thank you for taking the time to make it; I fear I've repaid it rather poorly."
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He's right. If what they say is true... even if this goes south, I can handle this. I can handle this.
"I know I don't have to. I want to." The blond shakes his head at Devin's offer to leave. First and foremost, he takes the skillet and spatula to the sink to soak, then returns to push the plate and a bundle of utensils wrapped in a napkin toward the other vampire. Then he pulls up a stool to the opposite side of the counter from Devin and takes a seat.
"If I don't have anything to fear from you, then why wouldn't I want to be nice?" Fai folds his arms together along the countertop. "You've been nothing but kind to me. I'm not going to yell at you or shun you because other people think I'm supposed to. That isn't how things should work. If you aren't planning to hurt me or the ones I love, then we've got no problem."
"Hurt the ones I love, and I'll make you wish you'd never existed. But that's a blanket statement, because I don't believe you would." Fai smiles brightly. "Now eat up, before it gets cold~!"
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Damn. He's like Elliot. That memory brings with it a jolt of emotion he doesn't want to deal with, so he turns his attention to what else Fai has said.
For all that Fai looks like he could be blown over in a stiff wind, he's got guts and backbone to threaten Devin and serve him a meal in the same breath. It does pull a wry smile from Devin, though even he's not quite sure if it's real or feigned.
"People like me have long since given up the right to nice things. I knew full well what I would become when I started on this path," he says lightly, pulling the plate a little closer and busying his gaze with selecting a utensil. "I hope I never give you cause to act on that assurance. I certainly have no plans to. It's simply an unfortunate function of my being that I have to rely on the life of others to survive."
And he already wishes he didn't exist, not like he is, so that part of the threat has less bearing then it might, though he takes Fai's point.
Devin stabs the fork into a vegetable, and takes a bite. It's delicious, and it makes him realize how hungry he was. He needs to be more attentive about that. "This is quite good."
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The mention of having to 'rely on the life of others' brings up an interesting problem, though, doesn't it? Fai has only one food source, in that respect, but the ninja is present and willing. For someone like Devin, though? "Hmm... so how do you plan to survive here? Willing donors?"
Despite the darker turn their conversation has taken, and the fact that mere moments ago Fai threatened Devin's life--however vaguely--the blond beams at the compliment. He props his elbows up on the counter and rests his chin in his hands, smiling at the other vampire. "Thank you! It's a recipe I picked up a few worlds ago, it's not native to my own world. I've been trying to branch out and learn new things~"
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He raises his head at the mention of other worlds, intrigued. It's also a far more attractive subject than his lifestyle. "This isn't your first time being transported from one world to another then," Devin observes. "That's an unusual form of travel."
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The hesitation, in this case, is entirely for effect. "--if you don't feed?"
"Mm, nope! Not my first time by a long shot." The flirty tone in the blond's voice is back; if he still had more than one eye he'd be winking. "It is unusual, yes, but it's not unheard of. It just takes someone with enough magical power and know-how."
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It would be much, much worse if it did. He's an adult now, and an elder, and he's under no illusions of how much destruction and death he would wreak if he lost control.
Fai seems to have reacquired a sense of calm, though how much of that is practiced is hard to tell. "And here I thought getting to all seven continents was an accomplishments. Which was your favorite?"
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"Seven continents? That sounds a bit excessive, don't you think~?" Fai laughs. "What world are you from, anyway?" The question, his favorite world, takes him aback. "I don't think anyone's ever asked me that before! Hmm~ Lecourt was interesting--lots of magic! Everyone was a witch or a wizard in that world. I... I'd probably say Outo, though."
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Devin takes bites between the conversation, not exactly sedate but not inhaling the meal, either. Fai was a good cook. "My planet is called Earth, despite three-quarters being covered in water," he says wryly. "Take up the complaint of excess of continents with plate tectonics. What's special about Outo?"
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His one blue eye lights up with recognition. "Ah, you're another one from Earth! This world really does seem to love pulling people from your world. I've met several already."
Amusement, very near mischief, shines in that same eye shortly thereafter. "Well, for one thing, it doesn't actually exist."
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For a number of reasons. All throughout, Devin's looked away again. He has a tendency to do that when the subject at hand sets him on edge. There's a nod in response to Fai's observation.
"Yes, it does seem to be a popular location, although I'm led to believe they're many different versions of Earth," he replies, and then makes a noise of curiosity. Judging by Fai's expression, he's holding off a clarification intentionally to make a bit of a story out of it. "How does it manage to not exist, if it's capable of being visited? That's quite a physics problem."
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The pause in the story was definitely calculated, though there isn't much actual story to it. "It was a game," he says with a laugh. "A... what did they call it, 'virtual reality'? Everything seemed very real while we were there, and then we woke up and found we'd been in a different place the entire time."
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He makes a thoughtful sort of noise at Fai's explanation of Outo, intrigued albeit faintly unsettled by the idea. "That must have been a bit of a shock. How long were you in the virtual reality before you woke up in the real one?"
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(Okay, so he couldn't help himself there.)
"Hmm. A couple of weeks, maybe? Or at least that's how it seemed in the game. I couldn't say how long we were actually playing the game. But anyway, Outo wasn't my favorite world because it was a virtual reality. Outo was my favorite because I had my own café--the Cat's Eye."
Actually any of the worlds where they'd all been together and safe and happy would count as a favorite, but it's a good enough answer for now.
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If the Foreigners or the kedan see fit to drive him out of the city, so be it. He's more accustomed to living alone, anyway. The chips will fall as they may.
"That's impressive, starting a cafe in a matter of a few weeks. I'm well practiced at settling into new situations, but you seem to have made a veritable art out of it," he remarks, continuing to steadily pick away at his lunch.
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(Which is actually true, even if in this instance it came with a healthy dose of "wanting to check out the new vampire in town." And maybe a little flirting.)
"Mm, I suppose~ Outo was set up to get newcomers started right away, so I can't take all the credit, but it was a lot of work. When you've been to as many worlds as we have, you have to learn to adapt as quickly as possible. Not every world has a helpful guide waiting, or free transportation. There are clothes to buy, food, lodgings. Different currencies, different customs...." Realizing he's been rambling a bit, Fai looks over to check on Devin's progress through his lunch. "Can I get you something to drink?"
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