Weather told me get inside | June Catch-all

[lasergrenades]

Characters: Pepper Potts, Devin Parker, and you!
Date: Throughout June
Location: Around Keeliai
Situation: Devin is making himself extremely scarce, while Pepper is getting into the Tourney excitement.
Warnings/Rating: Probably some mentions of past violence and torture, possible mentions of murder. Will add as needed.


A. [Pepper] Commerce 3 | Mid June | Open

Since first arriving in Aifaran when Pepper saw them being used as accessories in a fashion show, she's been fascinated by the selys. They're waaay too expensive to purchase one for herself, but they're too beautiful to altogether ignore. This particular visit to a shop where they're sold was on a whim, and now the breeder is insisting that she take one of the shimmering creatures or it will be Very Sad. "I, uh, sort of already have a snake… they probably wouldn't get along," Pepper says in an attempt to dissuade the woman; the selys is investigating her hair. "Seriously. Separate tanks wouldn't even work."

B. [Pepper] The Townhouse | Backdated to late May | Bakura

After at least two months of anticipation and excited daydreaming about interior decorating, Pepper and Bakura finally moved out of the Dreaming Bridge and into a modest townhouse in a quieter area of the city. Not quite the outskirts, but far enough out of the downtown core that the bustle and noise doesn't drive Bakura nuts. They don't have a lot of possessions yet, so there's not much to move from the Bridge. New furniture, however, has to be acquired so they can do things like sleep in a bed and eat on a table.

"My kingdom for Ikea," Pepper bemoaned - mostly in jest - as they navigated getting part of the disassembled bed frame upstairs. "Someone should seriously introduce flatpack to Aifaran."

C. [Pepper] Arts 3 | Before June 5 | Open

Pepper definitely didn't volunteer to put up decorations for the upcoming Tourney. She's been roped into it somehow anyway, and the harried manager who had shoved bunting at the redhead had insisted work begin right then despite Pepper's work shift. Fortunately, Pepper is good at being persuasive, so she's managed to convince her supervisor that the decorations are double duty - goodwill is earned for the Sentry for having one of their own involved, and she can get a different angle on any potential security risks while she untangles five different spools of ribbon.

D. [Pepper] City Outskirts | Early June | Yato

After the accidental encounter with Vee and learning more about Pepper's magic as well as her training, Yato had expressed interest in sparring with the ka. Pepper was similarly enthusiastic about the idea, but cautioned him about how the nature of dueling magic might come into play. It would probably limit her more than Yato, if things went that direction, but he might not be immune to the effects, either. Still, it promised to be fun, and they found a suitably open area to meet up. Unlike their first meeting, Vee had shown up today in her reduced size, which she and Pepper had worked on the previous year. The Knight was taller than average, but no longer towered ten feet high.

E. [Devin] City Outskirts | Mid June | Bakura

Finding himself both agitated and of the mind to avoid the people he knew well after the incident with X, Devin had considered locating a gym or somewhere similar that he could try to vent some of what he was feeling into physical action. Unfortunately, he was concerned about breaking equipment that didn't belong to him, and going for long runs didn't satisfy anything. He recalled his brief conversation with Bakura on the network, about summoned creatures that could, in fact, keep up with the strength and speed of a vampire. The idea grew moderately appealing, and after getting in touch, they arranged to meet. The vampire acquired himself another beater sword in the meantime.

"So, how is this supposed to work?" Devin had never sparred with magical monsters before.

F. [Devin] Aifaran and surrounding area | After June 3 | Open

X's accidental call on the network had not explicitly identified Devin or Valdis as the intended recipients, and therefore the subject of his obvious agony and near-insanity. That does not change the fact that Devin heard a reflection of himself in his worst moment - the fear, the betrayal, and the bone-crushing pain. He has tried so hard not to think about the night X was recalling, tried to banish it for a decade, and now he feels like a raw nerve exposed to cold. As a result, he cuts off what little social engagement he has, takes refuge in the apartment no one knows the address of, changes his work schedule, and generally attempts to make himself difficult to locate.

He does still have to work at the library, however, and anyone who seeks peace and quiet may stumble upon him outside the city in a forested area or occasionally at the turtle's head. He may not be the most receptive to conversation.

(OOC: Let me know if you want a starter, or feel free to make your own!)

Comments

[redlightgreenlight]

Anani's ears flattened when Luthien tried to encourage him to play wrestle, but only for a moment. He seemed to opt to ignore the invitation and bat another toy at her, the picture of patience. Valdis glanced at the cat briefly, willing him to not cause any problems.

"You aren't delicate in the slightest," Valdis said, arching a brow, "I don't think it was lack of your experiences, but more of my sensitivity to what I most recognize." She sighed, gaze drifting back to Anani, who was still trying to redirect Luthien's energy, "It was like seeing your thoughts and feelings perfectly reflected in a mirror, except the face isn't yours."

Disorienting indeed. As useful as her empathy was at times, right now it just felt like a curse.

"How are you holding up?"

[annihilist]

Luthien had her quirks, but some body language was universal. She didn't attempt to leap upon the cat, instead directing her attention to the second toy and this time batting it back.

Valdis' comparison made sense to him; recognizing yourself in someone else's body must have been incredibly unnerving. He glanced at her and then stared into his glass rather than answering immediately.

"You had to break into my apartment to speak with me," Devin muttered after a few moments. "I think that's an adequate measure of things." He sighed and rubbed his forehead. There was more to it than that, dread and panic that did not only belong to the situation with X though it was related. "What little safety I thought I had here is gone. I don't care how goody-two-shoes he seems to be; I don't trust him. It feels like being held hostage by my own life, and my life doesn't belong to me in the first place."

[redlightgreenlight]

Anani responded to the return of the toy by batting it in another direction.

Valdis didn't look at him. She knew he wouldn't have spoken with her of his own volition and that the only way to successfully get his attention was to do exactly as she had done. The fact that he no longer felt any semblance of safety was far more concerning than anything else. Despite everything, the vampire's harsh judgement of X was uncalled for in her mind; but Devin struggled to find it in himself to trust under the best of circumstances. Having his secrets torn from him in such a manner was an unforgivable trespass upon his life, so Valdis could understand his reaction.

The trespass upon her own life was still terrible. She hated it, she didn't like how her secrets were no longer hers, how she no longer had a choice about who found out, how even the secrets she had never told anyone were now in the mind of someone she barely knew. But Valdis couldn't say she didn't trust X.

"Do you trust me?" She asked quietly.

[annihilist]

Devin wouldn't claim his distrust of X was entirely rational. The reader would understand it, would know why the vampire reacted as he had, but that knowledge did not help. He had nowhere and nothing left only to him now.

He raised his eyes, again silent while he considered her question. The answer was at hand immediately, but saying it aloud was not so easy. Trust gets you killed. If she wanted, she could destroy him - although that would be true regardless of whether he trusted her from a physical standpoint. It was the rest of it, his wounds and his feelings and his past, that had always been more precarious to show others.

"Yes," he finally replied, and took a large swallow of liquor. "Are you suggesting I trust you, if I can't trust him?"

She did have a better insight into people's true nature than he did.

[redlightgreenlight]

It wasn't nearly as simple a question as it sounded, so Valdis waited patiently, almost dreading the answer no matter what it was. Abaddon had told her back in Keeliai that Devin needed someone to trust, and that she was somehow that person. She hadn't liked holding something so fragile and easily broken then and she certainly didn't like it now. But of all the people she had met here, Devin was the only one she trusted with aspects of herself that she never wanted anyone to know. After all, monsters couldn't judge other monsters and everyone else who knew the entirety was long gone.

The answer was in line with the fragment's words, and Valdis couldn't find an answer to his question right away. The entire thing was so delicate and until the elements of herself faded from X's essence, she couldn't say with certainty that this was the end of it. Yet X was far too emotional to hide from her like others could. He wore his heart on his sleeve where anyone could see it and what he displayed had never wavered from what she felt through her empathy. She took a deep breath and shook her head.

"I'm saying that if you trust me, then you must trust that if I knew of any danger, I would tell you." A slight pause, "It may help to know that X's soul is untainted by our lives."

She, at least, felt some relief with that knowledge.

[annihilist]

Devin breathed deeply and exhaled slowly. He was unsteady enough that he had to pay care that his voice remained level, though that would do nothing to disguise from her how he feels. The rest of his body language was accordingly revealing of that; he did not relax at her words. Even so, he believed her as much as he was able. A part of him always clung to suspicion, to that inch of distance, that his life had demanded he always keep to himself.

"Small mercies," Devin allowed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "He's been traumatized enough as it is."

Luthien was occupied with volleying her toys back and forth with Anani, eventually catching on to the idea of batting it not quite at the cat but near. If only life were so simple as they seemed to view it.

"I'll admit some surprise that we didn't melt his brain," he added dryly, clearly unamused. "Though it seems we came close."

[redlightgreenlight]

No matter how hard he tried, Valdis knew there was some part of him that would always distrust her. The knowledge felt more like a gift than an irritant, for the amount of trust she did have became all the more precious. Their reliance upon the abilities and experiences of the other meant they could communicate differently, though not always effectively, as most recent circumstances would tell.

Valdis shook her head, "There is damage," she said, "But it will heal given time."

How much time and how completely, she didn't know.

"Almost three thousand years worth of less than pleasant memories has to leave some kind of mark."

Even scarring. But any damage was limited to his mental state, not his soul or body. Not that it made anything better.

"Its mostly a jumble right now, but we haven't dealt with the last of this."

[annihilist]

So, there was a silver lining. Devin knew that the circumstances created by the Dreaming led to this, but he could not let go of responsibility for what had happened. He had sworn to never inflict himself on innocents again, and that broken oath has settled like a heavy stone in the pit of his stomach.

He nodded, eyes closed. "I am aware," Devin groused quietly. "But I've already given him the one thing I could think of to help. I don't know what else to do for him."

How could he aid X when he can barely help himself? There was a lifetime of healing to do, and the idea of it elicited more fear than he could account for.

"Any suggestions?"

[redlightgreenlight]

"Don't hide."

For someone who had spent their whole life running from themselves, Valdis knew it was perhaps one of the least welcome bits of advice she could give. But leaving X with unanswered questions wouldn't help his recovery. Just because he had lived their lives didn't mean that he would understand the images and feelings. They would fester.

"No matter how much we don't want to talk about our pasts, we aren't telling him anything he doesn't already know, we are just helping him make sense of it."

[annihilist]

Of course. The one thing he wanted most to do, the thing he has wired himself to do, he must not. In order to help X, Devin will have to sacrifice a tactic that he feels has kept him sane. Revisiting his life was inevitably going to tear open old wounds.

A quiet and cold thought pointed out that any suffering he might relive was likely to be of his own making. It was both a traitorous agreement with Valdis and a caustic remnant of his past.

"I'm not exactly the poster child for walks down memory lane," Devin muttered. "The only reason I've talked about my past as much as I have here is because this damn place hasn't given me a choice." The level of trust he'd built with Valdis was the result of that, but it had been a painful start. He finished the rest of the liquor and scowled into the empty glass. "And I can't even afford enough alcohol to get buzzed much less properly drunk."

Notably, none of this was an actual refusal.

[redlightgreenlight]

"I know..."

Unlike many of Devin's wounds, Valdis had no marks to show the trials she had faced. Nothing to prove the deaths or injuries that now marred X's memories. Valdis knew this did not lessen them, but at least she didn't live with the constant reminders of hatred. She had always been strong enough to defeat those who wronged her, and the lack of emotional response had been in her favor. It was easy, then, to detach from her past in certain ways. Ways that Devin never could.

"I can't either," she replied, but seeing as she couldn't even get drunk, it was more a joke than anything else. "I doubt there's enough alcohol on Konryu to do that."