City pulls me in closer than I've ever been | July Catchall

[lasergrenades]

Characters: Pepper Potts, Devin Parker, and you!
Date: Throughout July
Location: Around Keeliai
Situation: Pepper is getting settled after several busy and unpleasant months, and Devin is making dumb decisions.
Warnings/Rating: Violence, possibly blood.


A. [Pepper] KPD | Throughout July | Open

Things have at least started to settle down some in the city, so while Pepper is busy she's no longer stretched to the limit. Her schedule is more regular, and she's taking fewer night shifts this month to try and catch up on sleep. All in all, she's in a much better mood when she's at work, helped in no small part by mending fences with Valdis. The ship is righting itself, finally, but that makes her no less vigilant.

B. [Pepper] Sky Sector | Throughout July | Open

The heat and lack of rain aren't uncomfortable for Pepper - New York could get positively sweltering in the summer - and it's decent weather for practicing summoning in the backyard. She does usually wait until early evening, when the temperatures cool down just a little.

When it does rain, though, Pepper pretty much drops everything and races out into the downpour. She's missed thunderstorms and the torrential rain they bring. Pepper will spin around with her arms out, head tilted back and mouth open to catch the drops, completely unconcerned by getting drenched from head to toe.

C. [Devin] Outside Water Sector | Early July | Kratos

At the gathering to decide the leadership of the Foreigners Guild, Devin and Kratos had decided to spar. More specifically, they had agreed to duel at dawn with swords. The events in the city had made it somewhat inappropriate to engage in fun activities like that as early as they had intended. After things had settled some, they'd reestablished the day and time. The additional time had meant Devin could acquire himself a beater sword - functional and sharp, though not particularly pretty - and shave off some of the rust that had been building over the years. The sun was just starting to come up when he reached the appointed location, carrying not one sword but two.

D. [Devin] Wood Sector | Throughout July | Open

Most of the time, Devin does his best to stay away from the Hotel. It's not hard, and he's still working on his mental map of the city. June was all about Metal Sector, and this month he's largely wandering through Wood Sector when he isn't working or sleeping. From time to time, he'll pause and find somewhere to sit, all the while taking notes in some kind of shorthand.


OOC note: Let me know if you want a specific starter or write your own adventure!

Comments

[lasergrenades]

Pepper took his hand and straightened, following after him into the apartment. She did her best not to trail mud everywhere, difficult as that was.

An idea struck her. Things might've turned a bit sour, but they didn't have to stay that way. "We're both a mess," she pointed out, snagging his hand again before he could wander off. The mud might have covered some of the faint blushing. "And there's no point in wasting water or getting mud all over the kitchen. Right? Coffee won't take long, after."

[lasergrenades]

Vee inclined her head in thanks. It is an unexpected pleasure to meet you as well, Master Jack.

"She doesn't really do names without some kind of title," Pepper elaborated with amusement. "'Master' and 'lady' get used a lot. And most of the time she shows up a couple times bigger than this, but we've been working on shrinking her down to a more normal size. Less imposing. The height's useful for some things still, though, like when we were helping with greenhouse construction. What brings you out to the turtle's head?"

[simulsimul]

[The words have the slant of innuendo unique to Devin, and it might ordinarily make Kratos pause; except that he has enough confidence in his skill to choose to take it straight, and blow right past any implications.

[He matches the strike to his shoulder with a twist of his sword, and then presses in with a flurry of short, sharp blows, cutting and thrusting. It's an easy, fluid set, neither holding back nor pushing Devin unduly hard. He doesn't feel taxed yet; the seal isn't even rising.]

You're not committing.

[annihilist]

[Kratos may not be pressing the advantage he has by his very existence, but Devin is having to concentrate to prevent any of the strikes from landing]

This is no time for me to take a knee, mercenary. But if you insist--

[In a blink, he zips away faster than the human eye can see, reappearing on Kratos' other side only long enough to slice at his legs and blur back to where he started.]

[wrathfulkhan]

"I never went to the pool," he admits. He'd had a bit more on his mind during the one summer he'd had free before arriving here, and he hadn't done any swimming since he was a child, in the ponds at his mother's house.

"...you know," he says, "I'm...not entirely sure I can swim."

i knew whatcha meant

[upshore]

1-800-DID-HE-ASK? Jeez.

Miles' head whips up when he's spoken to. Yeah, he's theoretically looking for pseudo-coffee, but he's really looking for answers to why God has burdened him with this horrible nightmare of existence he now finds himself in. And mostly why, if there was in fact such a thing as a just and merciful God, why every single Nazi hadn't been smote immediately.

Miles Upshur's Reasons for Atheism, Numbers 1-3,901.

"And sometimes if there's a bustle in your hedgerow, it's just a spring clean for the May Queen," Miles says easily. "Can I help you?"

<3 my hero

[annihilist]

"That depends. Do you have a particular attachment to your blood?" the vampire returns cheerfully. "A little stillness and quiet can be of great help, from time to time. It can give you focus."

Devin gets a lot of solitude by his own design, and while it's mostly to avoid people, it's also valuable when he's grappling with a particularly thorny problem.

[lasergrenades]

Pepper blinks at him, surprised. "Seriously?" She's never thought of Gene as anything less than capable, the kind of person who would take any challenge and defeat it, and the fact that he's lacking in an area so basic is just plain weird.

"Well, knowing how is pretty important. Since it's been really warm out, why don't we head out to the beach on a day off and find out? Promise I won't let you drown," she adds, nudging him. "And I can teach you if you've forgotten. I need to get a swimsuit anyway."

[wintershepherd]

It was a good thing that Pepper clarified the title thing as being normal, of he'd have been far more weirded out. "Nothing in particular, I was flying. It's a lot cooler, the higher up you go."

At least as far as the invisible barrier around the turtle went. Jack paid attention to the sense coming from his soul gem, just to make sure he didn't stray too far.

[denyamenti]

The mud on the floor would be easy enough to clean up later, so he wasn't particularly worried. He raised an eyebrow when she caught his hand, though the expression shifted to something arch at her suggestion. "No point in wasting water, hm? I suppose there's also no point in trying to wash around clothes at the same time?"

[lasergrenades]

"Oh, come on. I basically just agreed to go skinny dipping at the beach. Showering in, you know, actual privacy seems like a good intermediate step to me. Clothes can get washed and then taken off," Pepper pointed out. Despite the fact that there was definitely pink in her cheeks now, she mirrored some of his slyness with her own. "Unless you'd rather just go make coffee?"

[lasergrenades]

"Oh. I guess that makes sense. Summer's not your favorite, huh?" She glanced at her deck, thinking through her cards. Maybe there was something in there that could help him stay cooler. "Well, our freezer is pretty much always full of ice cream if you need something to take the edge off the heat. Tony likes playing with the liquid nitrogen generator."

There was also Gene's rings, but they tried not to advertise all of those abilities. Still, if things got really bad, she was sure Gene would help.

"Can it get, like, too hot for you? Should we put some kind of plan together in case you're at risk of melting?" Pepper was trying to make light of a situation that could be really bad for Jack, since getting serious about it didn't seem like fun. "We've got enough magic on the turtle to do something."

[denyamenti]

Bakura studies her for a moment, although the expression he's wearing is an unclear blend of several thoughts, and none of them easily discernible-- though it's soon enough replaced by a slyness matching her own, though without the blush.

"No, I wouldn't rather make coffee."

[lasergrenades]

It was possible that she would remain pink for the duration of the evening. The exact cause of it might change, however. That brief uncertainty in his expression wasn't entirely unexpected, but all that really mattered was the outcome.

"Good answer," she told him, and tugged him towards the aforementioned shower. "You've got enough negative associations with people yanking on your hair. About time we made a positive one." It wouldn't exactly make a big dent in that many years of abuse, but it wasn't nothing. "Or at least make sure things go back to being fun."

[upshore]

"Yeah, I kinda do enjoy having my blood inside of me where it belongs," Miles says sarcastically. "I think better when I'm walking. If I sit for too long I start to go a little crazy."

Which is part of why he's been running around outside to begin with. If he stays inside contemplating his own navel, he's gonna set himself on fire.

[wrathfulkhan]

"Yeah. I never really had the opportunity to learn, aside from when I was small." He shrugs a little. "Not like I really had time to go to the pool most of my life, anyway."

He says it casually, but now that he knows that's not normal, it kind of hurts.

"Sure," he says with a smile. "Let's make a day of it."

[lasergrenades]

"That's okay. A lot of people don't know how if they didn't got tossed into a YMCA pool as a kid, at least in New York. You'd think they'd want to learn, living on an island and all," Pepper says, smiling. "No cheating with the rings, though; I know you can manipulate water--" He'd pulled her out of the ocean, after all, for which she is very appreciative. "--but this is basic skills time," she continues, teasing.

Her smile broadens to a grin at the agreement. "We should bring Tony, too. Get his head out of the lab. I'll be he's a dork in the water." She has no idea if Tony can swim, either, but he probably can. "Oooh, we should go shopping for nice beach towels, too. And we can build a sand castle." Tony will probably engineer the heck out of it. The more she thinks about it, the more fun this is sounding.

[wrathfulkhan]

"...I think I'm beginning to regret bringing this up," he teases. "It sounds like you're beginning to make this into an event." It's Pepper. Of course this was going to involve shopping.

[simulsimul]

[Take a knee --? Kratos puzzles over that phrasing for all of a split second before he can't. It's reactive, when his sword slams down to protect his legs, and then slices up to meet Devin's blow to the other side. His eyes are abruptly fierce with approving startle.]

Better!

[This is much like Yuan -- everywhere, seemingly all at once. Seemingly. But Devin doesn't have a six-foot blade in hand, isn't bending momentum and force to his will to conserve his energy. He's a smaller target, however. Kratos pushes back, this time harder than he had been; still keeping place to force Devin to come to him, but relying on slashing tactics to force Devin to cut his speed or run into the cutting edge.]

[annihilist]

[This is more like it, has Devin smiling sharply in a way that's entirely genuine. The fact that Kratos is staying put is a tactic he's not terribly fond of, but he can see why it's being used.]

I live to impress.

[Devin slows his speed a notch or two, just so he doesn't overshoot Kratos and to give himself another a better chance to react. Somewhere between his speed and his rusted skills, he parries a slash just a moment too late, the blade slicing open his arm.

The vampire moves out of range, hissing slightly at the pain though it's done nothing to dull the edge to his smile.]

Now we're getting somewhere.

[Rather than daunt him in any way, the injury seems to have spurred Devin on, and he dives back towards Kratos. He contains his speed to better fend off the slashing attacks, and puts more raw power behind his own blade.]

[annihilist]

Devin shrugs. "Suit yourself. You can't run from the world forever; it has a way of catching up to you. Repeatedly."

Says the hypocrite vampire who's been running from what he is since he was a child.

"Alternatively, you could ask for directions," he suggests.

[simulsimul]

[Kratos does not pursue as Devin pulls back, adjusting his grip on the sword. Devin, at least, is smiling; and Kratos's assumption that first-blood drawn is hardly a stop to the match is borne out.

[When Devin comes back, Kratos is prepared for the shift in speed, but the blows are most definitely stronger than they had been. He grunts, still hardly shifting from the small space of ground he's allotted his territory, but adding the strength of his second hand, using it to brace his sword against the force of Devin's stikes. In return, the slashes turn to thrusting parries.]

You're almost making me wish I had my shield.

[annihilist]

[The difference in Kratos' responses suggests that he has a lot more yet to give when it comes to countering Devin, which also means that he has a lot of work to do if he's to pull the mercenary's full strength to the surface.]

Oh, good. I'd hate to be a disappointment.

[This is dry. There may be Feelings behind it, but there's also just a lot of concentration demanding his attention. Devin weaves aside when the direction of the attacks change, meeting them with as much force as before with the intent to make it hard for Kratos to strike back unless he actually started to move more.]

[denyamenti]

He lets her direct him, more because it's interesting to watch her take charge about it than for any type of reluctance. The bathroom floor is tiled, so mud is hardly a concern for clothing layers to be shed and dropped there.

"You know that wasn't your fault," he remarked, meaning the sudden change in mood from earlier. He's removed his shirt, letting Pepper do the same, though he'll take his cues from her for this. It's new for her, and Bakura privately confesses that he's not 100% certain in which light to take this just yet based on Pepper's unknown intent.

[lasergrenades]

"I know," Pepper confirmed, peeling her shirt off. "I don't want to shower with you to make up for something. I just want to."

She started to shove her pants away from her hips, struggling for a moment with the sodden material when it stuck to her skin. In the interest of clarity, because assumptions hadn't helped anything much in the past, especially when it came to matters of intimacy, once she stepped out of the pile of fabric Pepper looped her arms loosely around Bakura's neck. "I don't have a plan here, by the way." She hesitated, but she was smiling. Rule one: there is nothing to be embarrassed about. "I'm up for pretty much anything, including literally just showering, and if I change my mind I'll let you know."