Our story binds us like right and wrong | September Catchall

[lasergrenades]

Characters: Pepper Potts, Devin Parker, and you!
Date: Throughout September
Location: Sky Sector, KPD Headquarters, Healers Guild, and around Keeliai
Situation: Pepper is living life mostly as usual, and Devin is getting over some denial about being stuck here.
Warnings/Rating: None yet, will add as needed.


A. [Pepper] KPD | Throughout September | Open

There is, thankfully, less to do at work this month. It's still pretty warm, but not stifling like the first part of August. The heat seems to be keeping crime down, for the most part, and Pepper is glad to be a little less busy. She works more days than nights this month, patrolling in street clothes more often than not. When she is in armor, it's on those few times when she has night shifts.

B. [Pepper] Jade Dojo | Mid-September | Bakura

The first time Pepper sparred against Bakura, it did not go exactly as planned. She'd let the issue go, probably for longer than she should have, because there was a) nothing she could do at the time, and b) things had seemed quiet on the dark, scary shadow demon front. Neither of those things were the case any longer, and Pepper isn't content to sit back and let this unfold without trying to do something.

"It's been almost two years since I hit you," Pepper said quietly, brushing her thumb along Bakura's jaw where she'd struck him. "We never talked about why I did that."

C. [Devin] Water Sector | Early September | Open

Being naturally a few degrees cooler than the average human, the heat doesn't both Devin as much as it might some people. He continues his 'hobby' of learning the city, mapping and memorizing the streets. He's in Water Sector most of the first half of this month because he can find an easy place to cool off if he wants to. It's an interesting area. His irritability is still on display from last month, though the cause of it remains uncertain.

D. [Devin] Sky Sector | Late September | Open

Devin spends more time in Sky Sector the second half of the month, familiarizing himself with the gardens and occasionally asking about the old palace when anyone will answer. He also spends a little time looking at the Foreigner housing; it's been almost six months since he arrived here, and while he'd much prefer to return to his home world, he's saved up enough to transition out of the Hotel soon. Klaus may have grown more polite, but the vampire is aware he's still an object of consternation.

E. [Devin] Healers Guild | Early September | Kylo

Every two weeks or so, Devin appears at the Healers Guild to meet his vampiric needs under medical supervision, as he's requested. He doesn't allow anyone to be in the same room with him when he actually consumes the blood, however.

By now he's at least a passably familiar face in the Guild, and most of the regular staff and volunteers have learned that bothering him immediately after he's finished is an unwise idea. There's something faintly wild at the edges of him, something less restrained as he starts to stalk his way to the exit, hoping to find a quiet place to be alone.

OOC: Let me know if you want anything specific or feel free to put up your own starter!

Comments

B.

[denyamenti]

One of the things they both did on a regular basis was to keep an eye out for Foreigner-origin items in the shops and stalls around the city. Primarily this was for Duel Monsters cards, but they'd both gotten into the habit of purchasing anything that seemed out of place in the world of Konryu. One of the most common things to arrive were books, easily identifiable and relatively useless to the kedan since writing didn't translate the same way as speech did by Tu Vishan's magic.

The latest of which was a classic detective story, and Bakura and Pepper had taken to reading a few chapters each evening, punctuated by frequent lighthearted disagreements on method and tactic, and sometimes just the sheer camp of the story.

Marking the page where they left off, Bakura paused as Pepper commented on the event two years prior. "You weren't happy with learning some of the thing I'd done to get where I was," he said. "What else was there to talk about?"

[lasergrenades]

As much as Pepper was loathe to disrupt the peace of the evening, perhaps it was better to bring this up when they were both calm and relaxed to begin with. She looked up at him expectantly, gaze not-quite-narrowed.

This was going to take some careful, attentive word choice. "That was upsetting, yeah, but that wasn't the thing that pushed me over the edge," Pepper reminded him. "It was the barter."

[denyamenti]

He made a vaguely discontented sound, but there wasn't any corresponding tension in body language or otherwise outward reaction. "And what do you know about that?"

[lasergrenades]

"Basically nothing," she pointed out, which was something of an oddity: Pepper had not asked him about it before, and she had asked him about pretty much everything else. "Only that you did it, and that when you've... 'bartered' in the past, it was big. Scary big."

Potentially world-ending big, the last time. Left-him-dead-and-shattered big. You said you 'bartered them back' and that scares me, because of that thing you made a deal with before.

She glanced at the Ring. "Things haven't been as quiet, lately."

D

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis wasn't exactly surprised to see Devin in the gardens. He'd been mapping everything else, so the gardens had to become interesting at some point.

"Enjoying the flowers," she asked as she came around a corner. Depsite the heat, many of the flowers were in full bloom, it reminded her of why Wan had loved the place so much.

[annihilist]

Devin glanced up at Valdis' approach, pausing mid-note. That was... actually a good question.

"They're handling the heat well," he replied, shrugging. "I'm not much of a flower person. This was simply a convenient place to sit. I understand they're a recent addition to the city."

[redlightgreenlight]

"Not all of them are new," she replied, crouching next to a bush with fragrant red blossoms, "Many of them are left over from what was here before the Palace was torn down."

The garden was better for it in her opinion.

[annihilist]

"I see. Well, I suppose the gardens are a less unsightly remainder of the Palace than the dungeons," Devin remarked, watching her take in the flowers. "You were here before it was torn down, correct?"

E

[no_light]

It has to be some kind of prime irony that Kylo, who barely ever goes near the Healer's Guild anymore these days with things being tense between Raine and him, happens tobe there just in time to be running into Devin in the hallway.

Coming in while Devin is on the way out he stops suddenly, giving him a squinty-eyed look.

"You're not why I'm here," he blurts out.

[annihilist]

Devin comes to a slow halt when Kylo appeared, raising his eyebrows at the 'greeting'.

"Of course you're not. Even I'm not so self-centered to think that within seconds of meeting," the vampire remarks dryly, appearing at least outwardly relaxed. "As it happens, my world does not revolve around you. Care to try that again?"

[no_light]

A scowl flickers over his face before he forces it back. If he loses his temper here Raine will hear of it, and feel proven right.

"I could tell you to stop showing up wherever I am, but then you'd just tell me again that your life doesn't revolve around me." And how dare he? It should. Well okay that would be awful, but he still shouldn't be allowed to be so dismissive of him.

[annihilist]

"I'd also tell you that you don't have authority over public spaces," Devin replies with clear amusement. "You are not why I am here, either, so now that we have that pointlessly obvious declaration taken care of, I think we can move on, don't you?"

Slight head tilt as the vampire gives Kylo an appraising look. "You're accustomed to ordering people around, aren't you?"

i'm a gosh dang rebel

[wolfishflame]

[from here]

"Well golly gee willikers, Batman, I never would have noticed," she said, sitting down on the edge of the fountain. After a moment's consideration, she flicks water at him.

<3

[annihilist]

He bore the spray of water she flicked at him with a tilt of his head and a faintly chagrined arch to his eyebrow.

"Is there something I can do for you, or are you just here to bother me?"

[wolfishflame]

"Yes," she said sedately, giving him a mathematician's answer, before flicking water at him again.

"I can't believe you of all people are finding your chill, D-Bomb." She grinned.

[annihilist]

Devin resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"Why? My body temperature is only a few degrees lower than yours," he replied, purposely misinterpreting her statement.

i continue to be a gosh dang rebel

[wrathfulkhan]

[from here]

"I'm not going to be good at that," he demurs. Besides, all he does is destroy. Building a sandcastle? A bit beyond him. And his entire life's been built on foundations of sand, anyway. Why perpetuate it?

[lasergrenades]

There's something in that statement that doesn't seem to relate strictly to beaches and days meant for fun, and Pepper's gaze narrows for just a moment.

"Gene, no one is good at making sandcastles unless they practice or know how to calculate structural stability and load-bearing maximums of sand in their head. And even that's not a guarantee you'll get something nice," she tells him, flicking a spray of saltwater at him from a bucket meant to dampen the sand. "It's not about being good at it, it's just about doing it."

[wrathfulkhan]

Good catch, Pepper. But Gene's brooding at least 70% of the time, anyway.

He laughs a little. "You know I've never done something just to do it, right? I'm not even entirely sure I know how."

Two things Gene has admitted to not knowing how to do: swimming, and spontaneity.

A.

[invisibill]

Even though his job at the hotel kept Danny busy during the days, Danny tried to make a point of patrolling for a few hours every night. Most nights were quiet. But not always.

And that was enough to keep him going out.

Tonight.... Well it was less obvious trouble and more like something weird. Was that someone in armor?

He stops in midair and waves at them. "Um, hello? Nice night out, right?"

[lasergrenades]

There's a handful of Foreigners in Keeliai that have flying capabilities, most of whom Pepper has met personally. She hasn't been on as many night patrols over the summer, however, since it's been hot and crime rates were down. Still, she enjoys flying just for fun, too.

She'd stopped to hover, watching the night markets, when the HUD alerted her to... well, a person, but not an average one. The newcomer is waving, though, and that usually means friendly, so Pepper retracts the faceplate and waves back.

"Nice enough, anyway," she replies, grinning. "Hotter than I usually like it, but hey, summer. I'm Pepper."

[invisibill]

"Nice to meet you. I'm Danny Phantom. Resident ghost, if the glowing and floating hasn't give that away."

He makes a face. "Man, I cannot wait for this heat to go away. My kind of ghost isn't made for weather like this."

C.

[spoilsfun]

With no school to worry about and no one overly concerned about his whereabouts, Conan had taken to spending his mornings exploring different parts of the city.

He was in the water sector today, walking through the shopping district and keeping a keen eye out for potential trouble. Or even something out of place. He frowns slightly as he comes within site of Devin. He didn't think they'd spoken before, but he thought the face was familiar.

[annihilist]

Lounging by the fountain is as much about getting to cool off as it is about people-watching. Like he'd told Sonja once, there was much to be learned from the citizens of a city as well as the streets themselves. The vampire has spent enough time on the network (though not necessarily responding to it) to recognize most of the Foreigners, even if he hasn't been introduced to them all.

The sight of a child wandering about without supervision is still odd. "Have you lost your adult?" he inquires loudly enough to be heard.

[spoilsfun]

Conan scowls at him. "Who says I need one?"

After all these months with minimal supervision, Conan had gotten to appreciate his freedom. At the moment the only adult who could be said to be even nominally responsible for him was his roommate. And that was more a check-in and eat kind of arrangement than anything else.