Skating board is for cool kids only.

[wrathfulkhan]

Characters: Gene Khan, Jackie Ma, Miles Upshur, Aly Haskell, and y'all
Date: throughout April
Location: Aifaran and environs
Situation: Standard mucking about. Jackie's depressed, Gene's paranoid, Aly's got half a death wish, and Miles is driving local priests away! So, a normal Tuesday for these nerds.
Warnings/Rating: Will be added as necessary

[A] | Gene | throughout Aifaran | throughout April | open
Gene's finally gotten over being shy - shy! Rare, for him - and is out and about in Aifaran. He's still worried that Nick Fury is going to pop in from nowhere and haul him off to a SHIELD cell, but it's just as likely that he'll pop back to Earth.

Earth. Not home. It'd be a disturbing distinction if he hadn't come to terms with Konryu being more of a home to him than Earth had ever been long ago.

First point of order, rank the teahouses. Things have changed in the past five hundred-some years, so of course he has to stake out the best places for brooding thinking. With the best tea.

Second point of order, get...eh...friendly with some of the other Dreamfolk. The locals, he's been able to connect with easily. His fellow Dreamfolk, though...not so much. It's a personal failing, and he knows that, but it's one he's working to correct. So...A for effort? He seems to look like he knows what he's doing, at least; he certainly looks at home in Aifaran, more so than one might expect.

[B] | Jackie | throughout Aifaran | throughout April | open
Despite the heartbreak of having Brigid back for such a short time and losing her again, Jackie has to keep going. He's lost her before, and this is just...it's his life now. He could wake up any day to find anyone else he knows gone, and he knows that at any moment he could 'no longer dream in Aifaran' - or, to put it more bluntly, disappear back to being a strung-up disemboweled corpse in North Point.

The Dreaming's anchored him in Konryu for a while, but he knows that may not last forever.

He takes a lot of time to speak to shopkeeps and make himself known throughout the city, because he's trying to get the Golden Koi started again. Another iteration of the bar he'd started in Keeliai, named after the restaurant that had always been a safe place to him back in North Point. A little piece of home, one that he'll hold onto as best he can.

He might be walking alone, but he's certainly not averse to company. He's friendly enough with the denizens of Aifaran, and he's stopping at many of the local cafes and teahouses throughout the month, making friends and potential future business partners.

[C] | Miles | throughout Aifaran | throughout April | open [Faith 2]
Oh, boy. Miles is getting pretty p.o.'ed about getting cornered by a Sabonile priest, but since these guys haven't tried to kill him (yet), he's not going to hit the guy. And just as the guy's really beginning to spin up, he stops and gives Miles a strange, apologetic look, declares that he can't preach what he doesn't believe in, and just. Leaves...?

Fine by Miles, but that's a new one on him. Maybe he has a new anti-religious aura. That'd be cool. "What the fuck just happened?" he mumbles to nobody in particular.

[D] | Aly | look up. no, further up. there. the rooftops. | throughout April | open
In an attempt to get her frustrated energy out, Aly has taken to the skies! Or as much as she can, anyway. She can't fly, as much as she's tried, but she's pretty agile. She's running around day and night like a little ruffian who thinks she's Batman. Watch the skies for a blur! Or watch your head, because sometimes she doesn't look too well where she's landing.

[E] | Aly | down by the piers | April 7 | closed to Devin
Aly's agile, but even the most agile runners miss a step.

And so it happens.

Unfortunately for her, she misjudges distance - again! - over a gap between buildings. And especially unfortunately for her, it's a gap over water.

Her stomach and heart seem to fall faster than the rest of her, and a choked squawk tears itself from her throat as she tumbles. Everything else she could deal with, broken bones she could take, death she could deal with again, but water? No!

There were two ways to kill a Flame: Suffocation, and drowning. And she doesn't want to drown.

This time, there's no Princeps to give her a gentle push to the other side with some mastery of air, and she hits the water like a stone.

[F] | Jackie | the Dreaming Bridge | April 6 | closed to Valdis
Jackie's been doing his best to keep it together, but after he makes the announcement over the Lae (he'd phrased it as a question, but he knew in his heart that it was really an announcement), he needs to go somewhere quiet. He finds a little-trafficked lounge in the Breakwater wing and sits down, his head in his hands. He can't go back to his room, because Chase may be there and ask what's wrong, and he doesn't want to explain.

There's pretty much one person here in Aifaran who's familiar enough to him, unless she leaves, too, and he'll be all on his own again. He'll need to go find her. He doesn't like the idea of being entirely alone again; it had been bad enough when they'd thought only a year would pass. Here, everything was so different, he feared that he'd give in to his old habits and patterns and turn back to crime, because it was easier.

I'm not that guy anymore. He hoped not.

---

Hit me up at Chatvert if you want another starter!

Comments

F is for Friends

[redlightgreenlight]

After she sees Jackie's video post, Valdis does a quick check with her awareness of souls. She'd never interacted much with Brigid, but the werewolf had been in Keeliai, and she knew the souls of those from that time better than anyone. Moving around the Dreaming Bridge without leaving her room, she finds no trace of the girl. Reaching out further, as far as she can sense someone familiar, she still finds nothing. Slowly, Valdis wanders down the hall, searching for the soul that is still here, the ones that is filled with sadness and uncertainty.

"Jackie?" she says as she enters the small lounge, "I'm sorry."

U is for Uranium....BOMBS

[jinzhong]

Jackie looks up when he hears the voice. Valdis. At least she's still here, at least...

"Yeah," he says, and wipes his eyes with a tattooed hand. "Thanks. I'm. I don't know, man."

Then he takes a deep, shuddering breath. "It's happened before, you know? But when we were less serious. She came back, but I don't know what's gonna happen. I don't know if I'll ever see her again. I didn't think I would when she decided to leave, because, I mean...she has a life back where she's from, y'know? And I...don't." He laughs, a little bitterly. Valdis knows why not. She'd seen him deal with the man responsible, after all.

Let's not blow the city up yet

[redlightgreenlight]

"If I could give you your life back," Valdis says softly, moving to sit in a chair across from him, "I would."

There isn't much more to say. She knows how it feels to lose someone you love. She and Dante hadn't had as much time, but it had still been love. Truth be told, Jackie is handling this much better than she had.

E

[annihilist]

Devin is having a perfectly average day when he spots someone falling from a rooftop out of the corner of his eye. He turns in time to see them - a young woman, if he had to guess - hitting the water hard. Whether she can swim or not, that's a long distance to fall if you don't know what you're doing, and that was far from a graceful dive. There's no way to tell if she's dazed or unconscious or hurt.

He darts to the edge of the canal and only takes time to throw his coat off before he dives in after her. Once he draws near enough, Devin realizes it's Aly. He moves to get an arm under her shoulders so he can help keep her head above the water.

[wolfishflame]

(Around here, Devin should know better than to think any day will be perfectly average.)

When Aly hits the water, she freezes, and sinks. Ever since she'd awoken to her title, she'd avoided putting her head underwater for any amount of time. She'd swim in the pool, sure; she'd take baths; showering was no issue at all. But being utterly submerged in water so ice-cold that it felt like her bones were cracking and crumbling was her worst fear.

She'd always been afraid of drowning, but now her fear was more than mortal. It was metaphysical. Her life would be extinguished, and so would her spirit.

She releases the little bit of air that hadn't been forced out of her lungs by her landing and watches the bubbles ascend. That's the way up. She tries to swim upwards, and wishes the bubbles were like on the Otherside, when being shoved into water in the forest that was hers made her dissolve into bubbles and return to the Waking.

That almost makes her want to breathe in and let her lungs fill with water from the canal, but she knows that won't work here.

When she's nearly close enough to breach the surface, she finds herself roughly lifted up under the arms to make the last few feet upwards and drowning drowning drowning drowning...!

The water's gone, and she takes a gasping, sobbing breath.

[annihilist]

(He can dream.)

Devin takes a far easier breath than Aly when they break above the surface, shaking water out of his hair and eyes. He's expecting Aly to be disoriented, so his hold around her remains firm but not restraining. She could have burst eardrums or compression fractures. At least she's breathing, and seemingly conscious. All good signs.

"Easy, Aly, you're alright," Devin tells her, treading in place. He's strong enough to support them both. "Slow breaths."

D

[ilda]

Ilda, self-proclaimed future queen of Xa Xa, is up on a rooftop on a fine April morning - because the sky is a gorgeous blue and perfect for selfies!

She snaps a few shots, then checks the photos, frowning. She realizes it’s quite hard to fit both herself and the sky within the frame; either she takes up the whole screen, or her face gets sawn in half.

She also notices a blur in some of the photos. Huh?

Then something falls out of the sky and lands on her head, sending her sprawling onto the rooftop and her yimo cluttering out of her hands.

And she cries out, “My yimo!”

MY CABBAGES

[wolfishflame]

Aly was running, because running was good. Running was practice. She wasn't running as a wolf today; she was running as a human, because that needed improvement. She was going to be a human when she got back, after all, and she needed to make sure that she could escape in an emergency.

Plus, it was fun.

But her situational awareness has taken a hit, and then--

"Ack!" She lands on a person. Why are there other people up here?! "What the hell, damn guy?!"

Yeah, this is totally the other person's fault.

[ilda]

Ilda struggles to get out of the tangled mess of limbs she ended up being a part of, scrambling after her yimo. And her relief is audible when she finally secures the precious little gadget, quickly scanning it for damage.

Then she turns to Aly, pouting. “Can’t anyone here take selfies in peace anymore?”

C!

[psituational]

After weeks of semi-successful settling in, perhaps X shouldn’t be surprised that things went to hell in a handbasket so quickly. He’s not surprised, though, not exactly. Just… hurt.

In the following days, he takes nearly any excuse he can for a distraction, and today’s distraction presents itself in the form of an attempted conversion. Multiple religious belief systems coexisting peacefully is something X still hasn’t quite adjusted to, and he finds himself moving to intercept before he can think about it, like there’s an unspoken guarantee someone’s going to get punched. He’s just caught himself and sat back down when –

-- well. That’s the opposite of someone getting punched.

He moves a couple of seats closer, just in time to hear that mumble. “Maybe it’s a rest day,” X suggests. “A break from work that he forgot to observe. Did you say anything to him?”

[upshore]

'Hell in a handbasket' is the default state of everything on Konryu. Accept it, X. X-ccept it.

"I didn't say a thing," Miles says. "It just kind of happened. Not that I'm too terribly bothered by it. The more I'm left alone by people who want to preach at me, the better."

He sticks his hands into his pockets. "At least he's going to go think about whatever he needs to think about, I guess."

[psituational]

I didn't say a thing. It just kind of happened.

That sounds familiar. Disturbingly familiar. X is silent for a minute, watching the other man in that faraway manner of his, before he seems to shake himself out of it and smile wryly. "Do you often go around alienating people without saying anything?"

D!

[choiced]

Aly running across the rooftops has been a pretty common sight recently. Or, well, common for someone who's also spending a lot of his time above them, anyway. Zelos is happy at first to just give her the odd casual wave and grin when they cross paths, but as time passes and she shows no signs of letting up, he starts wondering what the hell she's after. Exhilaration? Distance? That neat windblown look she wears so well?

So, the next time he sees her, he starts flying alongside, large golden intangible wings sprouted from his back, keeping him airborne without beating even once. "Hey!" Zelos calls to her. "If you want to get higher than this, just say the word!"

[wolfishflame]

(She does look nice all windblown, thanks for noticing.)

When Aly hears Zelos pulling alongside, she glances at him, and grins. This isn't the weirdest thing she's ever seen, and besides, the wings suit him. "Are you asking me if I like to get high?" she says with a laugh.

Then she returns her attention to what she's doing, and vaults a small fence. "Having a nice flight?"

A.

[spoilsfun]

His quest for restaurants and shops that would give him decent coffee aside, Conan had long ago learned that they were one of the best places to people watch. It was perfectly acceptable there to linger over a cup of something, and as long as you had a book or a puzzle as a prop, no one ever wondered whether you were really there to eavesdrop.

And sometimes, familiar faces showed up. Conan frowns a little in Gene's direction as he gets a cup of green tea at the counter. He recognized him, of course. But they had never really spoken.

Maybe it was time to change that.

Tea in hand, Conan reaches up to put it on Gene's table, and then climbs up onto the chair.

"You're one of the other Dreamfolk, right?"

[wrathfulkhan]

Gene had been writing in his notebook - his multilingual notebook, which was essentially in code - when he's unexpectedly joined by a...kid.

Oh. This kid. Right. Gene blinks at him.

"Yeah, that's right. You were in Keeliai, too. I saw you around back then." He smiles a little. "Perhaps we should start an Old Foreigners Club."

[spoilsfun]

"I'm seven," Conan points out. Or at least that was his best guess on his physical age. It had been complicated even Keeliai. Now? Thanks to reverting back to his age before Keeliai when he returned to Beika for a few months, he was living through his seventh year for the third time.

"I don't think it would make sense for me to be part of any club with the word "old" in the name."

C

[bestofthevein]

Proselytizing in the middle of the market place seems a little strange to Kit, too, who's hanging out on a bench in a nearby park, a cigarette in one hand and his bibiru's leash in the other. The small animal is hopping lazily about in the grass, nibbling and grazing to its heart's content, but Kit has his eyes on the intrusive encounter between the priest and the Dreamfolk.

"They don't know when to quit sometimes, do they?" he asks Miles, making sure the priest is far enough out of earshot not to turn around and come back towards them. Then he shrugs. "Except for when they do, I guess."

cigarette icon buddies

[upshore]

Miles turns when he's addressed, and is surprised to see someone with a bibiru on a leash and a cigarette. Kind of an incongruous combination, but he'll take it.

"I really hope that's a new thing, the quitting," he says with a shrug. "'Cause I'm really sick of being preached at."

u.u /puff

[bestofthevein]

"What, you not buying--" Kit waves his cigarette-wielding hand after the retreating back of the priest, "--whatever that guy was selling?" It's a rhetorical question, obviously; if Miles were interested, they wouldn't be having this conversation.

He pushes himself up off of the park bench and straightens up... to the very impressive height of about 4'10". "I'm Kit," he says, tucks his cigarette into the corner of his mouth, and holds out his hand towards Miles. "I'm guessing you're not from around here either."

B

[driverslicense]

"Jackie."

He'd be incredibly unobservant if he didn't notice Jackie's been feeling down, and though Chase still has problems with human emotions, he isn't that bad.

"You are alright?" He's noticed Jackie keeping himself busy, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything, considering his friend Shinnosuke had that odd reaction where he threw water on his face when he was vehemently denying something. Not that the two things are equivalent, but...humans.

[jinzhong]

Jackie could lie, but he doesn't want to. Lying was exhausting, and it was going to get more so if he kept it up. Probably because acting like things were okay had been sort-of lying to himself.

"Nah, I'm not," he says, and shrugs. "It's...I dunno. It's gonna take a while to be all right, I think."

[driverslicense]

From what he can tell of humans (and...the world in general), people aren't 'not alright' without a cause. "What happened?"

Not the kind of thing that comes readily to Chase's mind—sensory loss, having something unpleasant appear before your eyes—he assumes. But at the very least— "You are not injured?"

A

[highprofilerichkid]

In the common room of the Dreaming Bridge, Tony is sitting on a couch. Well, if you want to be generous with your definition of 'sitting.' More like he's lying upside-down on it, with his back on the seat and his legs on the back, and his feet propped up on the wall.

He's looking at his yimo, swiping through online job listings. "Ugh." He drops his hands to his chest and sighs. From his upside-down perspective, he looks over at Gene and pouts. "This sucks."

[wrathfulkhan]

Gene, who's quite used to this way Tony drapes himself over furniture, isn't even batting an eye at that.

"No kidding." Before they'd left Konryu before, they'd had jobs, and stable ones. And then they went home, and now they're back, and unemployed.

"At least now I get to be a productive member of society again," Gene says, with barely a spin of bitter irony on the words. "Find anything?"