tushanshu_logs | I will not bow, I will not break

Entry tags:

I will not bow, I will not break | June Catchall

Characters: Pepper Potts, Devin Parker and you!
Date: Throughout June
Location: Keeliai
Situation: Pepper is busy with police work, Devin is being Devin.
Warnings/Rating: Mentions of blood because vampire. Others will be added as needed.

A. [Pepper] KPD | Throughout June | Open

Pepper is busy. Very, very busy. After the attacks, she seems to spend more time away from home than ever. She can't just go full tilt the whole time on her own, though. There's a department to run and people are turning to them for assistance, so when she's not helping with recovery she's organizing shifts and crews and coordinating logistics with some of the gangs that have called a truce and offered their help, as well as other groups across the city.

She doesn't sleep as much as she probably should, and it may occasionally be possible to spot her snoozing at her desk.

B. [Pepper] Jade Dojo | Early June | Bakura

Despite positively throwing herself into work, Pepper still made a point to visit the dojo when she could manage it. The last week in May and the first week of June don't give her much time to practice, but she would drop by to see Bakura and maybe help with weapons maintenance if she was there around sunset. There had been enough scolding attempts that Pepper had in fact gotten a few hours of sleep every night, but at some point even that wasn't enough. She reached the dojo a bit after dark, intent on curling up next to her favorite thief and unwinding over dinner, but only made it as far as the couch before she fell asleep almost immediately.

C. [Devin] Water Sector | June 1 | Heather

While Devin was not exactly thrilled by the arrangement that he'd made with Heather, but having multiple donors in a city where Foreigners have a tendency to vanish at the drop of a hat is the smart choice. There are a great many things and a great many people more important than his ego. The Healers Guild seemed the safest place for the experiment, and after an initial taste test doesn't send him careening into a frenzy, he's satisfied that her blood will do.

As requested, Devin goes to meet with her not long after. Unlike their previous meeting he's not quite so composed; there's something wild at the edges of him, and a sharpness in his gaze when he spots her and crosses to where she's sitting.

D. [Devin] Metal Sector | Mid June | Open

Keeliai isn't huge, but it's large enough that it's going to take some time for Devin to learn every street and alleyway. The act of memorization gives him something to do when he'd not at the police headquarters and keeps him busy enough that he doesn't stay at the Hotel much. Eventually, he'll move out, but he needs enough money for things like furniture. The Metal Sector has his interest currently, and the vampire winds up and down each street, occasionally stopping to take notes in a small journal. He looks pensive most of the time, and can usually be convinced to chat.

E. [Pepper] Turtle's Head | Mid June | Valdis/Gene

So, the past month or so has kind of sucked, and Pepper rarely found herself needing peace and quiet but... well, she needed some now. Jade Dojo and Bakura usually fit the bill there, but the serenity that the turtle's head offered was tempting enough that she took a hike out there a few times. Pepper brought her deck with her, as had become her custom, and was working with Vee to summon her in a smaller size. It wasn't too difficult, but getting into a habit of it seemed like a smart idea. The ka also consented to sit with Pepper after a certain point, sans much of her armor, and discuss deck orientation and strategies, remarking that the calm of the turtle was evident to her as well. It was a little easier to breathe here.

F. [Devin] Sky Sector | Early June | Valdis

In anticipation of her home becoming a potential cultist target, Devin had warded Valdis' house so that only she could come and go. Recent events - namely Valdis getting mildly possessed - suggested that having access to her home in the event of a similar emergency might be wise. The sword, Revelations, could have been useful to assist her and instead he ended up warding her into a room at the Healers Guild (although that might have been necessary anyway). All told, it's made him realize that he might want to alter the wards at her house somewhat; Devin has zero interest in handling Revelations ever again, but he can't deny that if he needs to use it, he ought to be able to reach it.

The vampire arrived at Valdis' house a little before sunset and knocked sharply on her door to announce his presence.

G. [Pepper] Earth Sector | Early June | Raine

Pepper has been working really hard since the attacks, and has had to be reminded to slow down (which she doesn't always listen to), and she knows that Raine and the other healers undoubtedly have been going near non-stop as well. Raine in particular has a way of spreading herself thin at times like these. So, if Pepper is going to get nudged by those around her to take a break, she's going to pass the nagging on. It's not as though she hasn't already made a habit of appearing at Raine's apartment or work with treats in hand, and today is much the same. The difference this time is that some of her tiredness is showing, even though she's smiling broadly when she knocks on Raine's door.

OOC note: let me know if you want a specific starter or add your own!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Given that you don't seem to understand the meaning of the word 'no', I somehow doubt that it would be fun," the vampire says sharply. "Consent being as critical as it is."

His jaw tightens for a moment, and then he continues since this was the bargain: blood for information.

"You phrased it as though you might have been." A short pause as he considers how to answer her question. "Blood is not like any other liquid, for my kind. The feeling of it, well..." Devin gestures to his slightly ruffled state. "It brings out the predator in us, as makes a certain amount of sense, but it's a lot like taking drugs. Yours was noticeably more potent." Not to the level of Valdis, thankfully, but definitely up there. "Have you ever been injected with adrenaline or something similar?"

"I understand the meaning across many languages. I merely refuse to accept it." She says. "And I understand that sometimes, no, really means, yes."

She understands consent as a modern concept. It's... unusual to her.

"If I was human, that was a long time ago. I think after the fifth or sixth century, you lose the right to call yourself that." She shrugs. It's her own personal opinion, but one she's stuck by for centuries. She's not human. Humans are not meant to live for 10+ centuries.

More potent. Hm. Now that's interesting. She wonders if it could be addicting, but keeps her mouth shut about that. "Adrenaline? No. Other stimulants, I've smoked, drank, and consumed in various other forms." She's not looking up from her book. Ther hero just kissed the heroine.

"In this case, no means no. Have you considered that I might be more interested in who you are rather than jumping between the sheets with you?"

Their current arrangement, the fact that they knew each other in the slightest at all was enough to know her too much to sleep with her. He had his rules.

"Consuming human blood is not unlike taking methamphetamines," he elaborates further. "Whatever it is that you are--" Devin pauses, considering how to word it, and taps out a pattern lightly against the table. "I hesitate to say that it felt more alive, but I have few examples to compare against for better vocabulary. The effect was subsequently more intense." He sounds chagrined about this. "Do you have any idea how you came to be this way?"

Hmm. Well, that's certainly interesting. She finally puts her napkin to hold her place in her book, and closes it to look at him.

"Violent death." She says. "In my case, it was the Romans. In the cases of others? War, mostly. A few that I've heard tale of died because of robbers, or something similar. Always, though, it's violent death." She shrugs. "Beyond that, I couldn't tell you."

She's at least blunt about it. "As for the rest? Would you prefer to date? To be trite, and mortal about it? I don't have that kind of time." Which is a lie in and of itself. As long as she keeps her head, she has plenty of time. But, she's never found the trappings of mortals and their dating habits to be particularly pleasant.

Devin arches an eyebrow and returns her gaze. "This condition is not unique to you, then," he parses. "You died and were resurrected like this?"

Intriguing. Not so unlike what happens to vampires who are turned, who have to die as part of the process. The idea doesn't thrill him, but he'll keep any suspicion entirely to himself for the time being.

"I don't date. I also don't sleep with people I associate with." Lie. Well, it's true now, but there was one... He sets that thought aside forcefully. "My lifestyle doesn't allow for it."

"Oh, no. There's quite a few people who are like me. Most younger." The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries had been... fruitful. "There's a legend about one being older." With Darius's death, the legendary Methos is really the only one who can claim to be older than her and still alive. She shrugs her shoulder. "We don't... associate with one another." Unless they're trying to take each other's heads.

"And what lifestyle is that? You seem rather... staid, for someone who's going to live a few centuries." But, that's just her assuming. If you can't die, what's the point of playing it safe? "Would you prefer I put on a mask and pretend to be someone else?" She'd do it, possibly even for free.

Her explanation is proving engaging. "And why is that? Can you simply not stand each other after all this time?"

Devin could relate to that. He regards her silently for a second or two before answering.

"A dangerous one." Most of them aren't visible, but he has a lot of scars. He also doesn't plan on living quite that long; hopefully he won't be necessary that far in the future. "I would prefer you accept that it's not going to happen and move on," the vampire returns. "You won't have any more success if you try to proposition me again, so what's the point?"

"No, we're generally trying to kill each other." She is, at least, blunt about it. "We don't congregate, we don't announce ourselves. Mortals know nothing of us, save a few, choice individuals." And then they grow old and die.

She shrugs. "Suit yourself, but it could be fun." Heather is starting to feel very, very old right now.

Ah, so she could be killed. Fascinating. "Why kill each other? What purpose does that serve?"

Because he's not seeing it. Not that he couldn't understand having somewhat opaque reasons - Devin's own reasons for hunting were confusing to most people.

The vampire sighs, and tips his head to look at her from a different angle, as though that will somehow provide answers. "The last person who said that tried to kill me. Slowly. It was extremely painful. Does that clarify things for you at all as to why I don't engage in these kinds of affairs?"

"Because, according to the rules we live by, there can be only one." She shrugs. "So, we try to kill each other. Even our friends." Not that she's had many friends that were Immortals over the years. "Anyway," she opens her book again. "There aren't others like me here, so it's a moot point."

She looks up from the book. "That's a harsh thing to judge me by. I'm after one thing only. But as you've said no, several times, I'll take my seeking elsewhere."

"'There can only be one'," Devin echoes, mildly incredulous. "Really. And whose rules are those?" They sound like a prat, whoever they are.

And in a way, they sound like him.

"Life is harsh. We all do what we must to survive; surely you must understand that," he says. "It's not a personal assessment of you, but you may want to keep in mind that sex may be neither enjoyable nor desirable for some people, since you're going to persist." He couldn't believe she lacked that knowledge after so many years of living, but it seemed to him that she was, at the very least, disregarding it. "And last time I checked, there were plenty of brothels in this city that cater to women as well as men that you could visit."

She snorts. "I work at the Shaded Lantern." Her mouth tips into a small smile. "My madame might take it amiss of me to visit another brothel. Besides, if I wanted a professional, I would have gotten myself one." She's not too proud to pay for it. She's done so in the past. After all, everyone is just trying to make a living.

"However, I don't want false enthusiasm." She wrinkles her nose. "I want the raw exuberance that professionals have left behind. I want an uncoordinated dance, with someone who isn't counting on my money for a meal." She's honest about that too.

"As for whose rules? They're older than I am. I was taught them by my patron, when I was newly Immortal." She puts her book down again. "There can be only one." She counts it on one slim finger. "Only safe on holy ground. And all duels are one on one." They were the three rules she's lived by for a long, long time.

"Is that so? You never know; she might appreciate the intel."

Well, that explains a few things, to some degree. Still, Devin is struggling to see how being as forward as she was with him will help her achieve her wants. In his experience - which, he will admit, is limited in the area of true passion - there needs to be chemistry. A spark that starts a wildfire, not fanned so quickly that it goes out.

But what does he know. His sole long-term partner in a century turned out to be an archdemon who only wanted what he contains.

"So, it's a self-perpetuating system. 'Do it because I say so'. What happens when you break those rules? And why, pray tell, does it have to be holy ground?" The distaste is evident in his tone.

"Knowing her? She might. However, I am nothing, if not loyal to my employers." She's got an odd sense of honor, but it works for her.

She looks up from her book. "Thankfully holy ground is not just JudeoChristian in context. Holy ground refers to many places." She's always been grateful for that little loophole.

Heather sighs. "I took myself out of the Game for a long time. I refused to fight. I refused to play along with the rules. What happened? Nothing. Of course, I don't remember much of the nineteenth century, but that's for other reasons." She shrugs. "Eventually, a young upstart tracked me down, and wouldn't listen to reason, and I had to kill him."

The fact that holy ground is the place of safety period does not endear him any further to this 'game'. And the fact that it is a game-- can higher order beings just leave well enough alone in any universe? Thus far the evidence says no.

"He refused to break the rules. Typical." Devin has never had trouble defying authority, but not everyone is so inclined. "Everyone who participates in your 'game' sounds like an idiot for not questioning the status quo." Particularly if nothing untoward had happened to Heather for avoiding it. "Do you get stronger as you age or was he simply a less experienced fighter?"

She smiles, just a little. "Well, as you age, and as you fight more, obviously, you gain more knowledge." And Quickenings, but that's a different explanation. She's not going into that. "He was an upstart. Never used his sword in real battle, and had an idea that he could make a name for himself by taking down an older Immortal."

Her smile turns wicked sharp and more a slash of the lips than anything. "I disabused him of such a notion."

So, that's a 'no' on the superstrength, unless she's lying. It's useful for him to know, although Devin has no intention of getting into a fight with her.

"You disabused him of quite a bit more than that," Devin replies. That nameless Immortal had failed where Devin had once succeeded, but he had other advantages and needed no sword to use them. "I imagine he underestimated you, given your appearance." She looks barely older than a child and a full foot shorter than him. He would underestimate her if he didn't already know better that appearance meant nothing when dealing with creatures like vampires.

"It seems I'm not the only one here with a taste for blood," he adds, remarking on the way she's baring her teeth at him. He knows that's not the only reason for such an expression, but he wants to see what her reaction is.

She's not lying. There's nothing about her that's extraordinary. Except, she can't die.

Well, yes, she took his head, but that's completely separate. "I've blended in for centuries, because people underestimate me." She goes back to her book. It's boring talking about herself, and about her history. "It's rather nice to be dismissed because I don't look over eighteen." That had been the age she'd died at, anyway.

She snorts at her book, finding where she'd left off. "No. I left that behind centuries ago. Now? I only fight if the idiot challenging me gives me no choice." And they often don't. They forget that she's old. And to get to her age, looking like she does, she must have some skill.

Talking about her is better than talking about him, so Devin will happily carry on like this. He almost wishes that she were heartless, even if her answer ultimately makes their arrangement less distasteful.

"Then I suppose it can be counted as fortunate that you died at such a tender young age," he says with some small amount of sarcasm. There was some luck in having at least two functionally immortal beings on this turtle willing to give him blood, even if neither of them had deserved their relative fates. "You must keep in practice."

"I meet Kylo most mornings. Teaching him helps. As well, there's another boy, Gene, who keeps me in shape." She grins at her book. "Though I get the feeling that his boyfriend finds my flirting rather distasteful."

Not that she cares. She'll never take it further than flirting and Gene seems to find it funny.

"And I have my ways for keeping in shape. After all, being in shape makes my money." She winks at him.

In another life, Devin might like to meet the boyfriend and buy him a conciliatory drink.

"You train with the boy who has too much enthusiasm for murder and mayhem," he deadpans, and then laughs mirthlessly. She doesn't have much to fear in the way of being killed, he supposes. "I hope you're teaching him more than how to fight. He needs to learn restraint more than anything, since he doesn't seem to understand the difference between slaughter and strength."

He pointedly ignores the wink and the implication.

Kylo, for all his age, is a boy. An angry one, with power, but a boy nonetheless. She respects that power, because she isn't sure how to counter it yet, and she's a survivor if nothing else.

However, her age and status as Kylo's friend allows her to think such things. This boy does not have the right, in either category. So, she just looks up at him from under her lashes and slowly raises an eyebrow at him. Honestly, he's as much a boy as Kylo is, for all the age discrepancy.

"If you think my tutelage lacking, then by all means, please. Take over."

Devin, as it happens, doesn't give a rat's ass about status or right; this is the vampire that's told God to piss off directly to the being's face. Kylo will get respect when he's earned it, and at the moment he has only proven that he's a child in great need of direction - and a child who has been led down a very dark path.

"I think he was like this long before he got here and it will take time to undo the damage left on him by others," Devin returns sharply. The vampire knows what kind of marks darkness and hatred can leave on a person, but Kylo is human (or at least not like him) and therefore has a chance to be redeemed. "For all I know he was far worse when he first arrived, and you've had a positive influence. That was not a criticism of you; it was an observation of him. But if you turn a blind eye to his lack of discernment when it comes to violence, you will be failing him as a teacher."

She closes her book on her finger. Looking up, she cocks her head to the side to study him as if he were a particularly interesting bug. She really dislikes boys telling her things she already knows.

"And you've determined I'm turning a blind eye?" She asks, placidly. Because she knows what potential lies beneath Kylo's skin. She can only imagine the havoc he would wreck on the turtle.

However, Devin? Devin also needs to learn respect. And basic decency. Preferably with a boot up the ass.

She really has no time, or energy, for boys that seem to think that they can tell her the mysteries of the universe, when she's been there, done that, burned the t-shirt.

Oh, yes, now this he can work with. Devin's expression turns smug, if a shade incredulous, and he laughs quietly. Someone doesn't like perceived criticism.

"Really, out of everything I just said, that is what you take from it?" Heather has just reached new and fascinating levels of self-importance. "I'd expected better from someone your age. I'm sure you've lived long enough to see people like him, but whether you've actually been where he is - that's an entirely different matter. I'm trying to offer you perspective, but if all you're going to do is take everything as criticism and don't demonstrate to your student the ability to listen to others who might have valuable insight, then perhaps he does need a new instructor." It won't be Devin. Probably. He doesn't do teaching; he does riling. "Age does not mean wisdom, after all."

I will not bow, I will not break | June Catchall

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