tushanshu_logs | I am flesh and I am bone

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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!)

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It's no secret that Gene feels a little...weird about having Vee around, and watching Pepper summon is also pretty weird. He likes that she has a new talent to hone and someone new to confide in, but can't she just reply to the voices in her head silently like a normal person?

He stands out back, quietly watching, not sure if she's even aware of his presence. Even if she's not, her ka probably is.

Valdis hadn't seen this particular individual at the Turtle's head before, and his intrusion of her mediation might have bothered her more if it weren't for the unusual nature of his essence. She slowly uncrosses her legs and pulls out of her own mind in order to focus on it more closely. There's almost nothing there, almost like he lacks a soul entirely, except she can still sense it, barely, and alongside it...something else. He isn't human, he doesn't hold the same sense of life that most do, but he doesn't feel quite dead either.

"You're a complicated one, aren't you?" She says softly, not looking over at him.

Devin was aware of the woman's presence, but hadn't seen the point in disturbing her; it would invite conversation, which wasn't what he was after by being here. It seemed that she would be the one disturbing him, when she finally spoke.

He spared her a glance and then set his gaze back on the ocean, the corner of a smirk turning up his mouth. "You'll have to be more specific. Most people are complicated in one way or another, even if only on a cellular level."

"Hmm," She hummed, but kept her gaze on the ocean, "Your soul is different, it's not with you in the same way the rest of our souls are, but still tied to you. And you aren't...alone, the way most people are."

She smirked now, "Its very subtle though, I don't think anyone else will notice. What isn't subtle is the fact that you are brooding and perhaps a bit agitated. Not that I blame you. And I can't actually decide...are you dead?"

Something distinctly different that Gene may notice is that Pepper is more focused than average, and even her movements are calmer and more purposeful when she's holding a summon. The Duelist Gauntlet is on her right hand. Shadow magic takes a lot of concentration, so indeed she's not the one that detects Gene first since he's out of her field of view. Vee glances at him for several seconds before inclining her head.

When the summon fades, Vee finally alerts her that Gene is there, and Pepper turns with a grin. She looks a little tired. "Hey! Keeping an eye on me?"

He inclines his head back at Vee, not sure what to make of this acknowledgment.

"Yeah," he says when Pepper grins. At least she seems happy. "You seem to be pretty happy with this. I'm glad. I was about to suggest you take up knitting," he says, a teasing edge to his voice.

That's rich, coming from Gene, who needs a hobby more than anyone. No, brooding is not a hobby.

It took a small effort of will to keep his expression unchanged, clasping his hands behind his back to distract her eye from any tension. Her insight was unwelcome, but the woman did not appear to be threatening.

"By human standards, yes. No heartbeat." Devin turned slightly, raising an eyebrow. "You have an unusual sense of perception, although it may want a little fine tuning. I'm fairly certain I left my soul behind when I came here, seeing as it never resided within me in the first place."

Fai spends most of his time at the Midnight Hotel, between his job in the kitchen and the fact that he and Kurogane haven't yet made the effort to find their own place. He also tries to be friendly to everyone and loves to chat, so he's got a fair idea of who's living in the Hotel at any given point. It doesn't take him long to feel the presence of someone else like him. Another vampire.

It's a sickening feeling at first, dread and fear and wrongness. Fai doesn't pursue it immediately. Whoever it is doesn't feel exactly the way he does, the way Kamui and Subaru did, so surely there's some difference in their kind between dimensions. He can't jump to conclusions here, but... it wouldn't hurt to be cautious.

That decision pretty much flies out the window the next day, when Fai is flouncing through the lobby of the Hotel, grinning and laughing and thinking about something else entirely, and smacks right into six feet and two inches of muscular vampire.

The blond is tall himself, only a couple inches shorter than the other man, but he's willowy to the point of being skinny and he sort of bounces off the unknown vampire's chest. Too surprised to react properly, his stomach twisting itself in knots at that eerily similar yet very wrong presence, he's probably just going to fall backward and land on his skinny ass on the floor.

"Oh!"

Pepper giggles. "Oh my god, me knitting. I'd probably end up breaking the needles and tangling the yarn so badly it could never be undone," she replies, looking up at Vee. The corner of the ka's mouth are turned up at the idea.

"And yeah, I'm really happy. It's super cool, getting to do magic," Pepper adds, wiggling the fingers of her gloved hand. "A little limited, but Vee makes up for a lot of it."

Gene chuckles a little, too. "Better you than me." No, that's not true. Gene's organized mind would have him making scarves in no time. It's better for everybody that nobody realizes that.

"Oh yeah? How does that work, exactly?" He's never been clear on the details.

Devin's signal for identifying other vampires is the lack of a heartbeat in an otherwise living body, so he doesn't sense Fai in that way. He does sense when Fai is about to run into him, but lacks the time to correct his course and they end up colliding.

Before Fai hits the ground, though, Devin reaches out and grabs him, keeping him upright. His hold is firm, strong enough that he could probably lift Fai easily, but not tight enough to hurt the other man.

"Is this how they say 'hello' where you come from?" Devin inquires, raising an eyebrow and quirking a smile. "It's rather abrupt."

Valdis arched a brow, raising a hand to pull her hair over one shoulder "I didn't say it was in you, I said it was still tied to you, though how exactly I'm not sure."

So, yes, dead. Kind of dead. By certain definitions anyway. He was tense, but pretty good at hiding it and she took a few moments to decide whether she should push or not.

"What's your name?"

He was definitely one of the more interesting foreigners to be dropped here in awhile, not to mention good looking, but the circumstances of his soul were of more interest than that.

"I think you'd do a lot better knitting than me, honestly, even if Tony would never stop teasing you," Pepper says. She really doesn't have the patience for fiber crafts.

"Well, I can't sense the Shadow Realm directly, so it mostly gets filtered through her," she explains. "The gauntlet let's me access the power I need to actually summon, but I can only do so much a day, since they're maintained here using my own energy. Vee I can summon any time, anywhere, though, since she's technically a part of me."

"That makes two of us," he returned evenly.

Devin considered her question, and her demeanor. In this place, he was the only one from his world. No one would know who he was, and therefore very little could be lost by telling the truth.

"Devin. And yours?"

Oh hell. He had to go and be gorgeous too.

Fai isn't completely swept off his feet, but it sure looks that way from the outside. His one good eye widens and his mouth drops open, and he even blushes at the other man's question. When he's firmly back on his feet again he doesn't quite step away just yet; suddenly grinning, he reaches out with one hand to brush lightly at the other's chest a little, as if bumping into him had somehow managed to scuff his rescuer's shirt.

"Sorry about that, handsome," he croons, his heart racing for an entirely different reason (shit shit shit). "I'll do my best to warn you before I throw myself at you next time~"

Well, that is absolutely not the reaction that Devin is anticipating. He releases the other man after a moment, once he's steady on his feet again. The Brit is a little bemused by the immediate flirting, but he rolls with it.

"I'll probably catch you, warning or no," Devin replies, making no move to put more distance between them. He's done this dance before, many times. "And there's no need to apologize. It was an accident, and I've had far less pleasant introductions."

Heather is running a little behind. Her last client of the night had overstayed his welcome. She's sure that somewhere, there's a nagging wife for him to go back to, but she's not going to play that role for him. Ever.

Walking into the dojo, she's at least dressed for a workout. She spots the young woman that had offered to spar with her and begins limbering up. "Sorry I'm late, darling." She doesn't offer an explanation as to why. Just the apology.

"Nice to meet you, Devin," Valdis replied, although she didn't offer a smile yet, "My name is Valdis."

She considered him a moment longer, "You feel a bit lost, anything I can do to help?"

"Valdis." He said the name as though he were testing the way it sounded.

His expression turned stony at her question, and Devin looked back beyond the shell once more. When he spoke, his tone remained neutral.

"Why does it matter to you?"

Oh, so he was a moody, mostly dead person, lovely. Valdis slowly stood up, stretching her arms above her head as if trying to loosen up after sitting down for so long. She took a deep breath and then crossed her arms, staring out over the water.

"In my experience, people who feel lost and agitated usually end up doing something stupid and I'd prefer to head off a potential problem before that happens. Also, I really hate paperwork..."

"Well, aren't you a regular knight in shining armor! I guess today's my lucky day~" If the other man is content to stay put then so is Fai, even if he's not at all sure if this is a good idea. Do vampires prey on other vampires? His only experience with others of his kind is the twins. It's hard to draw any sort of conclusion from such a small sample.

...but this guy is a vampire, not a hunter like Seishirou, so Fai sticks it out. Friendliness, after all, has always been his preferred method of information gathering. And truth be told... not all of the flirting is an act.

(Please, please don't let Kuro-sama walk down those stairs right now.)

"Speaking of introductions, does Sir Shining Knight have a name~?"

Her reply was better received than something more saccharine might have been. It was a logical concern, and one he was familiar with. Since Valdis hadn't been turned off by his lack of a pulse, she clearly had some experience with deathless individuals, or simply enough experience with the supernatural not to be phased.

And he did need to solve this conundrum.

"Believe me, I have the same concerns," he groused, and then sighed. "I've been told the spell that brings us here was meant to draw warriors in order to fight some terrible evil. While I might have been a decent selection at one time, I'm now more of a burden to the people here than any kind of boon. My skills are useless," Devin explained. "And my being dead carries with it some complications, namely that I have to feed on others to survive."

Oh, Fai. If only you knew.

A knight. That was rich. Devin is possibly the least likely candidate for admission to that order except by deception - which, to be fair, he is very good at. In his own turn, Devin knows the value in learning about his fellow Foreigners.

So, for now, he plays along, stepping back so he can bow a little. "Devin, though I've never had much use for titles. They tend to come with more arrogance than I can stomach, in my world."

"Ah, yes," Valdis replied, sounding slightly bored, "Malicant, the world devouring demon. He left quite a mess behind, and his followers have been far too quiet for my liking."

She paused as the last part of his answer sunk in. He had to feed on others to survive, that was...not different, per say, but most definitely a problem. Dead. Needed to feed on others. Soulless, (although technically still had one, somewhere).

"Like a vampire?"

Though now that she said it, she was pretty sure it didn't need answering. Valdis shook her head, the Dreaming was all sorts of fun these days.

"That is a problem...isn't it."

"Exactly like, since that's what I am," Devin returned, utterly uncaring that she knew. It wasn't as though he tried to hide the fact. "Before you get your hackles up, I do not have to kill to meet my needs. But yes, it's a problem. Your observational skills are stellar."

One of the challenges of going some time without blood was that Devin had a tendency to get edgy, but this was him just being intentionally snarky. The display was so natural he hardly had to think about it.

Followers, however, intrigued him. "Power is seductive in the worst way. Are there many of these underlings running around still?"

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I am flesh and I am bone | April Catchall

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E - early April!

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A!

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