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!

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"'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."

Hm. So, he's trying to rile her. She goes back to her book. She's not going to give him the satisfaction of rising to the bait. Instead, she raises a finger and orders more tea. Better to have it, than to worry about a boy playing games.

"As dark as he is? No. My darkness was... different." And self-destructive in a way that Kylo's isn't. He doesn't need lessons from her, though. He's not Immortal.

She turns the page on her book, picking up where she'd left off. "Having seen several as dark as he is, though, he isn't irredeemable. Not yet. No matter what he believes." And that is what she's teaching him: that he isn't too far gone, that there's still some lightness in his soul, if he wants to reach for it.

"As for your perspective, it is noted." She won't be taking advice from him, though.

There is no disappointment in Devin's expression, that smugness only becoming more certain. He'll note that for later.

"Few living people are truly irredeemable," he says, perhaps by way of agreement. "Most simply aren't given the chance. I wasn't so different from him, once."

And that's what he meant by perspective: Devin knows that anger well. Bad things would have happened if he hadn't wised up, forcefully. "If you can reach him, then so much the better. I'd hate to see potential wasted on a madman."

"Wasted?" She doesn't look up from her book. She does not consider it a waste of her time, whether it works or not.After all, it's not like she has much to do here on the Turtle. Flirt, work, and train? That will get rather boring quickly.

She really needs a project. It's been a couple centuries since she had one. Maybe she should get back to weaving. That's an old pastime that she probably should relearn. Her face grows pensive, thinking about it.

"Bent only to believing that the strong survive, and the weak die. That those who win are always right," Devin clarifies. "If he's as powerful as you say he is, then his strength will only lead to his own suffering, and that of others, unless he learns to see beyond that."

Surely Heather must know this. What she does with her own time is up to her, but if she's taken it upon herself to not only teach Kylo swordsmanship but mold him then she ought to make like Rafiki and knock some sense into the young man. Not that Devin cares, of course.

Oh, she does. She knows it as a lesson she'd been taught time and time again. "I doubt either of us have shown the other the true limits of our power, so I might be overestimating him, but I rather doubt it." She murmurs to her book.

"However." She glances up, amusement deep in her eyes. "Damage such as his takes time to unravel. Trust must be given before it is received." She shakes her head and turns back to her book. "I am laying the groundwork, still. You cannot merely beat it out of him. It must be unraveled."

Good. Heather's age may yet prove useful, seeing as Devin's interest in Kylo starts and ends with conjecture unless the young man tries to assault him.

"Believe me, I've firsthand experience with the ineffectiveness of physical punishment," he informs her dryly. In his case, however, that had been the start of a different kind of damage. "Perhaps you'll learn something along the way yourself, assuming he doesn't try to kill you at some point."

Well, to be fair, there'd been no trying about it. He'd succeeded. It just hadn't stuck. She hadn't lost her head, and she got better, so it all worked out.

She snorts, softly, still reading her book. "He tries to kill me every morning we spar." She points out. "He just hasn't gotten lucky yet." Lucky, not skill. Because she can stop him on a dime, just by flirting with him. It's rather amusing.

Well, now, that's an interesting tidbit.

"Then you're either very patient, or very confident that he doesn't know how to properly kill you. Is he aware of your true age?"

By the way she had brought it up the first time, her functional immortality didn't seem to be widely held knowledge, but Devin isn't yet sure of that.

She looks up under her lashes. "He is." Kylo knows. He had needed to know. It had been the first time that he'd killed her. When they'd both been high on the Dust that had permeated everything.

Still, she spars with him, and they try to kill one another every morning. It's a rather fun thing for her. Kylo even knows how to properly kill her, and still, she knows it'll take more luck than skill at this point for him to take her head.

The slant of her gaze is probably an attempt to be coy, but it suggests even more so that her immortality is held closer to the vest. Not so close she didn't feel comfortable sharing with him, but still.

"He must take trying to kill you as some kind of petty challenge, then. Lucky for him, if he succeeds, he can even gloat at you about it when you come back - I hear death isn't so permanent in this place," Devin remarks idly.

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