He kinda looks like a boat made of hate.

[wrathfulkhan]

Characters: Gene, Jackie, Alex, Miles, Aly, and YOOOOUU!!
Date: July
Location: Keeliai et al
Situation: Everything. All the things. All of them.
Warnings/Rating: Will be added as necessary.

A. [Gene] | throughout Keeliai | throughout July | open
Gene has decided to take it upon himself to be Public Relations for the KPD in the aftermath of the cultist attack. Why? Because he has no regard for his own sanity. He can be seen talking to kedan; some of them at least respect that he's in the Guild of Justice and Arbitration.

Someone please come save him from his own bad decisions.

B. [Jackie] | the Golden Koi | throughout July | open
Jackie's trying to run the Koi as best he can these days. He's still sad - his heart hurts because Brigid is gone - but he knows he has to press on. People leave here, and sometimes they come back, but he's not going to count on it.

C. [Alex] | Water Sector | throughout July | open
Alex may be part of the Foreigners Guild now, but that doesn't mean he's not involved with the city. On the contrary. He's more than willing to talk to the kedan, joke with them, and haggle. He spends a lot of time in the Water Sector; it reminds him of what he considers home, in a way. He'd spent a lot of time in the Far East, after all, and while Keeliai as a whole reminded him of it, the Water Sector did most of all.

They'd always called him bright and diplomatic, and honestly, the Foreigners could use a shot in the arm of diplomacy right now.

Of course, he's not without his own agenda. The cultist attack had been terrible, but it had also taught him some things about their tactics and their motivations (even if the culprits had had nothing of use to say). He's making careful note of everything everyone says, every little twitch and turn of phrase, looking for something incriminating.

D. [Miles] | throughout Keeliai | throughout July | open
Hell. Goddamn. Fire.

Going home had maybe been the worst choice Miles could have made, and he'd made more than his fair share of shitty choices. Because now? Now he was truly a human-shaped abomination of science. And even more of a murderer than he had been, to boot. So he's trying to look chipper - overly so. In fact, it's downright unusual, considering how single-minded he'd been about the cultists before. Now it's obvious that he has something else entirely on his mind.

E. [Aly] | throughout Keeliai | throughout July | open
Aly, meanwhile, has been taking to Keeliai like a fish to water (pardon). She's in a place where things stay put so she's going to keep learning the city. It's been a few months, but that doesn't mean she's going to stop scouring the area...and maybe climbing things she shouldn't.

F. [Gene] | House Spicy Iron Dragon | July 10 | closed to Tony
Once again, Gene's on the roof.

He was glad he'd made it easily-accessible; it was a quiet spot for him to think, and it also let him be alone. Him being on the roof was a sort of signal for that, that he needed to clear his mind. But sometimes it also meant that he needed to talk and wasn't sure how. As usual, he'd be the last one to know which one of those it was.

G. [Aly] | Fire Sector | July 7 | closed to Valdis
Aly's on a building. She likes to be tall.

Also, it kind of makes her feel like Batman, especially in the middle of the night when things are lit only by the fire fountains. She doesn't crouch, cowled like the man-bat, but sits on the corner of a roof, her foot dangling, watching people walk by.

H. [Gene] | Healers' Guild | July 3 | closed to Raine
This ka thing wouldn't get off of his mind, so Gene figured he'd consult someone else about it. He knew for sure that Raine had one, so when he has the time, he goes to the Guild, requests to speak to her, and waits, suddenly nervous. Pepper might soften what she says to him out of affection, but Raine will tell him things bluntly.

---

Hit me up at Chatvert if you want another starter!

Comments

H is for healing?

[ruinsprofessor]

As much as Gene's a friend, usually when he seeks Raine out specifically it's somewhat more important than general small talk. So she's quicker than she might otherwise be about coming out to see Gene, and though she looks tired she brightens faintly upon seeing that he's not bleeding significantly. "Gene, hello. What brings you here?"

H is for hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[wrathfulkhan]

All of his mortal wounds are on the inside anyway.

He smiles at Raine, looking a little tired. "Hi, Raine. Are you busy? This can wait, it's no trouble."

Seriously. It can wait. He needs to cowboy up and ask questions about it, but if she's busy, this isn't as important. Healing people comes before his own issues.

[ruinsprofessor]

"I don't have any current emergencies," she offers, by way of explanation. "If you need something, I can make the time." It's mostly just administrative work at the moment, though she's anticipating someone will need her for something before the hour's out.

For Gene, she can demur anything but a life-threatening emergency. "Would you prefer privacy?"

[wrathfulkhan]

Current emergencies is a little worrying, but then, there have been more emergencies than usual as of late.

"...I think so," he says after a moment. "It is about something rather personal. Matters of the soul."

G is for...???

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis is patrolling, mostly out of habit, partly out of boredom, but her night is about to get interesting. The figure on the roof across the way doesn't seem to be paying much attention to the shadows, but Valdis makes her way up to the top of the building with practiced ease. The girl feels different than other foreigners, a simmering flame in addition to the sense of humanity.

"It's lovely, isn't it?" She asks from several feet away, looking out over the square with the grand fountain as the fire leaped and danced.

...the great time that they are going to have together.

[wolfishflame]

"Yeah," Aly says, and glances over at the other woman. Valdis. The Police Chief lady. "Does it make me creepy if I like to come up here and watch the city?"

Indeed!

[redlightgreenlight]

"No," Valdis replied, crossing the last few feet and sitting down next to her. "I do it all the time."

She looked out over the courtyard, "You seem...different from others."

D

[lasergrenades]

Things with Miles have, uh, escalated since he decided to visit Milyn, which makes getting the Walrider under control a high priority. There aren't many options there except to practice, despite the dangers, but Pepper has plenty of options for defense and can probably draw him further away from the city should he get really, truly unruly.

She meets him outside the city in the Rescue armor, the Duelist gauntlet and her deck already in hand. It'll be a balance to hold the right Spells and Traps without using too much of her own energy; Vee is there, too, visible but not threatening.

"Ready to give this a try?"

[upshore]

'Escalated' is a nice word for it.

Miles has been outside the city often, running at night, wanting to scream and cry and punch the wall until his hands bleed. It was for nothing. It had all been for nothing, and he was a murderer.

So he's standing out here across from Pepper, looking unusually serious. "Yeah. If we can't get this thing out of me at least I can keep from killing anyone else."

[lasergrenades]

"You're also not alone. There's plenty of people on this turtle who can be backup plans," she reminds him, tugging the Duelist gauntlet on. Pepper had spent a little time picking some useful cards for this kind of endeavor, but she doesn't draw on the magic yet.

"Alright. Do you know how to activate the Walrider or do I need to make you angry?"

E

[annihilist]

Aly isn't the only one who's getting to know Keeliai. Devin is largely moving systematically to build his mental maps of the place, but occasionally he'll deviate. Still, most of the time he's in either Metal or Wood Sector throughout the month.

He doesn't spot Aly immediately from where he's leaning against the corner of a building, taking notes in a small journal and studying the people walking by.

[wolfishflame]

Metal Sector's where Aly likes to spend a lot of her time; the energy tastes different there, she can't really explain it. It reminds her of home, the place she was born, not the one she was pulled from.

When she sees Gerard ahead of her, she almost wants to flick a fireball at him. But he'd get pissy, so she walks up to him instead.

"Hey."

[annihilist]

Devin doesn't look up when Aly approaches, his gaze tracing over the architecture of the building opposite. He was adding more detail to his knowledge of the city now, including taking down a few sketches of particular locations.

"What do you want?" he asked after a moment to scribble down a note.

B.

[bostonhowler]

There he is. He's standing at the bar, and she wishes she dared just run in there and wrap her arms around him. He looks sad. Oh, she can see the smile he puts on for customers, but it doesn't reach his eyes. She likes his eyes when they're smiling.

Brigid wants nothing more than to race in there and beg forgiveness.

Instead, she stands outside, fidgeting with her crucifix for several moments. Her Alpha would be ashamed of the time she's wasting. Swallowing, she takes a step toward the door.

She slides inside, and lets her eyes adjust from the bright early afternoon.

"Jackie?"

LOVE LIFT US UP WHERE WE BELOOOONG, WHERE THE EAGLES FLY, ON A MOUUUNTAIN HIIIIGH

[jinzhong]

Jackie's been used to loss his whole life. Growing up in Old Prosperity, someone could get hurt or killed every day - OD, turf war, whatever.

It's not that different here. Only when people go, there's no how; they just go.

He should have expected that. He'd lost Jiu Mei back home, and Brigid had gone home once before. Her coming back had been enough of a surprise; he wished he'd taken more advantage of it.

When he hears his name, he looks up. Did she really...

"Brigid?"

[bostonhowler]

She fidgets with her crucifix, the way she does when she's nervous or anxious about something. It's something she often did in the early days of dating Jackie.

"I -" Her voice cracks. She's not even sure what she's going to say. Except she needs to apologize. So, she clears her throat. "I'm sorry." She whispers, unable to speak louder.

"I'm so so sorry." Her voice falters on the last word. She almost sobs it out. "I know, I left you again, and if you tell me to go, I will, but I have my soul gem now, and maybe that means I'll stay? I don't know, but I am sorry." A tear leaks down her cheek.

C

[spoilsfun]

After Sherlock disappeared, Conan spent a lot of time wandering around. Eventually he made his way to the Water District, where he spotted Alex. For a moment he watches him talking to one of the kedan. When the kedan moves off, Conan makes his approach, stepping nearly silently behind him.

"It's been a while."

[saintoflangley]

Oh, it's pint-sized Poirot.

Alex turned around, looking at him. "It has. Keeping yourself busy these days?"

He was quite cross that he'd never gotten around to having a word with Sherlock about that whole scheme, because anyone with two brain cells to rub together could have told him that baiting insurgents was idiotic. And the city had suffered as a result. Alex was of the firm belief that you couldn't call an operation from an armchair; you had to be on the ground, really know things about where you were working.

Doing something like giving away your position to the VC on the radio? That'd get you shot by your own men. He was lucky he hadn't been lynched.

Conan, however, seemed to be largely innocent of those shenanigans, aside from being roped into the abortive attempt at being used as bait. (Alex had a lot to say about that, too, but Conan wasn't actually a child.) So Alex wasn't about to read him the riot act.

"Looking for new roommates?" Not him. God.

[spoilsfun]

"Busy enough."

With Sherlock gone there really wasn't any reason to keep up the house arrest he'd reluctantly agreed to.

"I was. I think I've already found one. He seems to be concerned about a child living alone."

F

[highprofilerichkid]

The roof outside their window has become their go-to hang-out spot when one or both of them wants some privacy. Tony had considered putting a real balcony out here for a while, but the Roof Retreat has sort of become its own thing, and Tony doesn't want to mess with it now.

Unfortunately the summer heat and humidity have made the roof pretty much uninhabitable during the daytime. It's okay once things cool off for the evening, though, so when Tony gets home late from work, he decides to take his leftover sandwich up to the roof and chill for a while. He has a hunch Gene's up there, too, since he hadn't seen him in the house.

His hunch is correct. "Hey." Tony plops his sandwich on the roof (without a plate or anything, gross) and climbs through the window to join Gene.

[wrathfulkhan]

Even in the hellish summer heat and humidity, Gene's been up here on the roof a lot. In some ways, it's a little reminiscent of something that had once been like home (Hong Kong had had days like this), but Keeliai is much better.

At least Tony showing up distracts Gene from his inner turmoil (as he usually does; ironic, since Tony had been the cause of so much of it once upon a time). Gene smiles at him. "Hey." Then he wrinkles his nose at the roof-sandwich. "Really? You're just going to put it there?"

[highprofilerichkid]

"What?" Tony makes himself comfortable, then picks up the sandwich and takes a bite. "Five second rule." It has already been more than five seconds. Oh well. It's not like he hasn't eaten worse.

He looks at Gene out of the corner of his eye, smiling a little. "If I put it out here in the middle of the day, I could make it a panini."

B [Early July?]

[wellhello]

Jack was making his way through the city as a whole and, more specifically, he was making his way through any bars that he could find. It was a gradual process, bar-hopping was really only fun when you did it with friends after all, but worthwhile. He'd have given a limb to have his vortex manipulator working again to find out exactly what was in some of the drinks he'd had so far.

The Golden Koi he'd been recommended once, he was pretty sure, even if he was only getting to it now. It was no offense meant, especially once he sees it, just a case of a lot of recommendations all at once.

It's a welcome relief from the heat, if nothing else, and he makes his way to the bar, sitting down and offering a somewhat flirty smile to the bartender. "This place have a signature drink?"

aye! sorry this took so long ;;

[jinzhong]

Jackie looked up when the newcomer walked in. He'd seen the guy on the network before - something about a busted computer or something? He's happy to have the guy here.

"Hey!" he said, smiling back. "Not really - well, not yet. I'm still taking suggestions, though. You mind some experiments?"

Jackie, no.

No sweat!

[wellhello]

"I'm always up for a little experimentation," Jack assures him with a winning smile. "And I've gotta say, I haven't found much I didn't like. Drinks or otherwise."

He may well have winked, for all he doesn't.

Jack does lean in over the bar some, extending a hand to shake. "Captain Jack Harkness."