[angrily sings circus music]

[wrathfulkhan]

Characters: Gene Khan, Miles Upshur, Aly Haskell, and y'all
Date: throughout July
Location: Aifaran and environs
Situation: hooliganry
Warnings/Rating: Will be added as they arise

[A] | Gene | throughout Aifaran | throughout July | open
Gene's trying to cope. Don't think about it. He wants to live outside the Dreaming Bridge - since it's about that time - and he's looking for somewhere small to live, within his means.

Somewhere to live alone.

Don't think about that.

He's also trying to find a place for the dojo. He wants somewhere in a reasonably high-traffic area, but he also wants to be realistic. He only has so much money, after all. Gene had liked teaching, and seemed to be pretty good at it. If he talked to Bakura and Valdis, maybe the three of them could pool their money and get a reasonably-sized building in a decent location. (If they wanted to go back to teaching at the dojo anyway. He wants to do it, whether they're in or not.)

He can also be found sitting in a teahouse, taking notes, sketching out potential floor plans for the dojo. Once, he finds himself sketching something like the house that he, Tony, and Pepper used to have, and a cold hand grips his heart before he angrily scribbles over it and crumples up the paper.

Don't think about that.

[B] | Gene | Pepper and Bakura's place | June 29 | closed to Bakura
When you feel like your very existence is an imposition, it's hard to spend extended amounts of time in someone else's place. But Gene's accepted the offer to stay with Pepper and Bakura anyway so he wouldn't be alone, and now he's beginning to feel like that may have been a mistake. He doesn't like feeling like he has to stay out of the way, and he knows that's all in his head. Pepper and Bakura are his friends, but his nerves are stretched so thin that he's trying not to go into the walking-on-eggshells state he hadn't been in since he'd gotten out from under Zhang's thumb. Completely in his head. Pepper and Bakura are my friends. It's fine.

Didn't change the fact that he spent a lot of the time when he was in the house staying out of sight, though.

[C] | Miles | throughout Aifaran | early July | open | Justice 1
Though he's undeterred from his main thread about Jack, Miles is still wandering the city, looking for more stories. Got to keep his mind fresh while he's trying to compile more leads on his main story, after all. For now, he's learned his lesson about looking before leaping.

The best way to find a story, believe it or not, is just to be personable. People will drop information whether they know it or not. Besides, at the heart of it, he likes people. Especially here in Aifaran. They're always interesting.

Seems like the Sentry doesn't find him to be too endearing, though, which is partially why he's decided to be, well, Miles, and cheerfully talk to them. They look at him with great suspicion, like they're certain he's stolen something. Seems that his reputation has spread, especially after busting into Valdis' office last month.

"Hey, how's it going? Fancy a handshake?" He holds out one of his mangled hands to a Bresilykian member of the Sentry, who looks at it with equal parts suspicion and disdain.

[D] | Miles | a park | early July | closed to Ilda
What does a grown-ass man do while he is waiting to dance in public like a fool? Climb a tree. Despite his missing digits, Miles actually isn't doing too badly at it. With a little bit of effort, he hauls himself up to the lowest branch, about nine feet off the ground, and sits on it, waiting for Ilda.

"Hey!" he says, waving when he sees her.

[E] | Miles | the streets | July 6 | closed to Valdis
Miles wakes up suppressing a shout. He's in a cold sweat, his mind reeling; who is he? He looks at the end of his arm, and his vision wavers - is there a hand there or not?

There is. There is. Not with all its fingers, but it's there. He can still hear the scratch-scratch-scratching of the pen, the ravings of the madwoman that aren't quite so mad - an experience too like his own.

His skin prickles, and he can't force the Walrider fully down. There's too much adrenaline pumping through his veins. He thanks whoever's listening that he doesn't have a roommate right now, and he opens the window, jumping through it. The nanites slow his fall, and when he lands, he runs.

He has to get the adrenaline out. He has to get himself under control. He knows his eyes are silvered and he can see the cloud of nanites surrounding him, making his form hazy in the midnight dark. And he hopes he doesn't run into anyone while he's out here.

Nobody surprise me. Please, nobody surprise me. I don't want to know what I might do by accident.

[F] | Aly | around Aifaran | throughout July | open | Arts 5
Aly's having fun painting with Ilda (okay, well, graffiti-ing). She'd always liked art, and this was a fun outlet. The danger of getting caught made it more fun, she's pretty sure.

While she's scoping out new spots, she's considering what to paint - and quite suddenly a glowing fish appears before her, floating in midair. She can see the brushstrokes that make it up.

"Blub," it says.

"What," says Aly.

[G] | Aly | a market | mid-July | closed to Rutile
Okay, what do you need for a trip out to the end of everything?

Nothing quite so dramatic, of course, but still - their expedition to the barrier is going to require a good bit of stocking up on supplies. At least Aly has some experience with metaphysical nonsense, so that's a point in their favor. Maybe it'll answer some questions Aly still has about this version of Konryu that Aly now lives in.

Maybe if I cut into the barrier, it'll send me home.

It really does look too much like the aurora she'd seen that one time in the in-between place. Maybe it was related, somehow.

She picks up a bag of curamija jerky and glances over at her companion. "Rutile? Do you eat meat?"

[H] | Aly | around Aifaran | mid-July | closed to Ilda
Is it the middle of the night? Yes. Does Aly have luminescent paint? Also yes. Is she about to engage in some hooliganry with Ilda? Well, it's art, but yes.

"So," she says, stretching, "what are we gonna paint?"

[I] | Aly | Dreaming Bridge | early July | closed to Conan and/or Alice
Aly's gotten used to the idea of roommates, sort of. She'll have to get used to it even more, because of college in a couple years, but she's reasonably sure that one of her roomies won't be a six-year-old.

"Hey, friendo," she says to whoever enters the room, baby child or goth girl. "What's up?" She's laying on her bed, sketching something out. Someone observant may recognize it as a start of a sigil...or, depending on what she's doodling, something like some of the glow-in-the-dark graffiti around the city.

[J] | Gene | Valdis' place | July 26 | closed to Valdis
The temporary visitors hadn't brought Tony with them, and Gene was a little relieved about that. He didn't think that he could deal with an established time limit on their time together, and Tony being taken away again so soon would be so cruel. Average for his life, but so, so cruel.

Valdis, though - she'd been through something similar, and it took him until just now to decide to ask her. He'd leave if prodding the trauma was too much, but he needed to ask.

He knocked on the door and waited. "Valdis?"

---

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Comments

D

[ilda]

"If it isn't my favorite dance sensation! Hi, Miles!" Ilda greets with a huge grin and an excited wave, perking up as soon as she sees him. And he's up a tree! So cool.

She's glad he's as shameless as she is, because she really needs this. The past days (weeks?) have been crazy and creepy thanks to the weird visions of slimy tentacles and flickering limbs and people being eaten... so she's decided to do equally crazy but fun things to take her mind off the gruesome images. Like dance with Miles in public. Heck, they should take videos and send them to everyone — because they can't be the only ones bothered by the visions, right?

She stops by the foot of the tree, fixing the strap of the backpack she has on. "I have an idea for our dance!"

time for them to be fools in public

[upshore]

"Hey!" He hops down from the tree when she arrives. Truthfully, he's looking for a way to distract himself, too. His blood has been stinging with the Walrider every time the visions have rolled through, but he's managed to suppress it so far.

Still, he rubs at his wrist absently, as though thinking about the thing would cause it to appear. "Okay, shoot. I've got a couple of ideas, but they're all bad."

To be fair, that's basically his entire life.

H

[ilda]

Ilda being Ilda, she's kneeling on the roof and... has a can of the luminescent paint open and the tips of the fingers of her left hand dipped into it. They're mostly spray painting, but she just couldn't resist the idea of finger painting. Plus she's thinking of putting her handprints all over the city as proof of her badassery. Ha! Catch them if you can!

"Definitely nothing with tentacles," she says a matter-of-factly. The last thing they need are reminders of the horrifying visions. "Flowers, maybe? Bibirus? Cats?"

[wolfishflame]

"Yeah, nah," Aly says, and tries to suppress a shudder. She's not a fan of the visions either. She's lived through a lot, but she's not keen on reliving that most recent trauma.

"Sure, we could make nice stuff," she says, and nods. "People need that, I think, after what's been going on. Although when I make cats, they look more like this." She dips her finger in the paint can and traces out a simple, tiny cat face on the ground.

G

[rutility]

Rutile is at another stall just to the left, more interested in the collection of screwdrivers displayed on the table. For them, much of what Aly will need is useless at best, and so they let her take point on the shopping, staying in the vicinity but near enough to to hear if their input is needed.

The screwdrivers. They are the closest things to Rutile's old tools they've found available to the public. That they're made of steel and not corundum or even the impure emery is unfortunate. When Aly calls their name, they slip away without purchasing anything. Much of their rhinn has gone toward fines, and they need to be discerning with their purchases.

"Do you eat meat?"

Rutile doesn't need to look at what Aly's holding, but out of politeness, they do anyway. Even if they did eat, the curamija jerky does not look like something they'd like. "No. I don't eat anything, actually. I'm like a plant," they add with a smile. "As long as I get enough sunlight, I can go forever."

If they go somewhere dark, though. That could be an issue.

"You should buy food for you. When we get to tools and equipment I'll be more help."

[wolfishflame]

"Huh." Aly nods. "Do you even eat at all? I mean, can you? I've known spirits who don't need to eat, but they like to sometimes." Sensei likes deer hearts. She tries not to miss him, because that's why she's going to the barrier. Maybe it'll answer some questions about how she can go back.

She has work to do back home, after all. And when it's done, if she's drawn back to Aifaran, she won't feel too bad about being here.

"So what sort of tools are you thinking of?"

I

[makebelieveavenger]

Alice was rarely around as she worked the night-shift, waiting and busing tables and whatever time she didn't spend fitfully sleeping was out, anywhere but cooped up in a building. She'd had quite enough of that for one lifetime, thank you.

But the heat had left her seeking refuge in the dormitory, and she ambled in, a tad wobbly. Her new boots were good, with sensible soles, but even they couldn't quite stop the effects of being on your feet for nine hours.

"What's..." Alice glanced upwards.


"...I don't see anything. Is it just the ceiling? Or is it hidden?"

Modern greetings were not her forte, given the time period she was from, but her corkscrew logic probably didn't help either.

[wolfishflame]

"Oh." For a second, Aly had thought that Alice was being a smartass, but no, she really didn't seem to get it. "It's just, uh, like saying 'what's going on'? Like, how've you been? Aside from hot."

Hot weather didn't bother Aly much, and never had. It bothered her less now, though. She wasn't sure if that was because she was half-her, half-Flame here, or if it would carry on in the Waking back home as summer came on. She was already leerier of deep water than she had been.

A, Gene

[afoolsgold]

"Hello, Gene."

The Fool stands just beneath the shelter of the tea house awning with a bright scarlet parasol resting against his shoulder and a thoughtful, grave expression on his face. It has been some time since he last met his friend from the Dreaming Bridge, but the clear unhappiness on his face is more than enough to cause the Fool to detour from his route home.

He takes a few steps closer and lifts the parasol to close it. "May I join you?"

[wrathfulkhan]

Gene looks up from his notebook and nods. "Fool, good to see you. Yes, please do." Having someone to talk to - who wasn't Pepper or Bakura - would help keep his mind off of things.

He does feel guilty, because he's let his relationships with other people slip in the wake of...everything. Nothing to do but build it up and move on now.

Move on. No, not move on. Move forward.

"How have you been?"

I

[spoilsfun]

If Conan could have seen what she was thinking, he would be offended. After all this time in this body, couldn't he at least pass for a small seven-year-old?

He moves into the room with a stack of books and drops them in his bed, before climbing up to sort through them.

"Nothing much." Apart from the obvious. It had been weeks since he'd run across a decent mystery.

He casts a glance across her drawing and sighs. It didn't a detective to recognize a pattern so similar to the recent rise in graffiti. It wasn't proof. But it was very suspicious.

[wolfishflame]

To be fair, Aly can't tell ages very well. Once you're not a baby anymore, you're three, six, nine, twelve, or fifteen before she can really start to tell.

"Whatcha reading?" she says, looking at the books. "I'm getting bored, and I think I need something to study."

Hey! Anyone could be making those works of art around the city! And it's not just her, anyway!

E

[redlightgreenlight]

The visions hadn't stopped, and this latest one had driven Valdis outside to roam the dark in the form she felt safest. The large, black Hound wandered the streets, no particular destination in mind. The fear essence strikes sharply and suddenly as she rounds the corner just in time to see Miles jump out of the window of the Dreaming Bridge. She leaps after him, shocked as he hits the ground running.

Miles?

The scent of metal and the sound of buzzing causes her more worry. The man had always stunk of more metal than normal, but it seemed sharper now.

Miles!

[upshore]

The voice in his head isn't his own, and it's not the woman he'd been in his vision's.

It sounds like Valdis.

He turns to see a large creature, a wolf of some kind the size of a draft horse, and the nanites flare up with his fear, obscuring him even more behind what looks like smoke.

"Stay back," he says, his voice guttural. He remembers all too well trying to hurt Pepper the last time he was like this. He'd been under the influence of Red Mist at the time, but he'd also been hallucinating, and this wasn't too dissimilar.

C

[iseeall]

Well good thing Leo happened upon seeing his possible journalism friend and in rushing forward, realized that the man probably was in trouble with the law or something. He came foreward, his hands ready to push against the taller man so he'd get out of the Sentry's line of sight.

"HELLO, I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU EVERYWHERE. I NEED TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT BUSINESS AND THINGS LIKE THAT," he said loudly, as the Sentry looked at him with surprise.

[upshore]

Miles doesn't like cops and cops don't like Miles. It's the circle of suspicion.

Leo's timely appearance, though, broke the tension, and Miles turned to him. "Oh, uh, hey." He was just as surprised as the Sentry was. "Yes, let us speak of business and other related things." Then, because he was Miles, he turned to the Sentry he'd been bugging and said "Later, gator."

F

[lasergrenades]

The latest graffiti additions to the city have occasionally come up at work; catching taggers and other similar tasks are often handed to newbies. It's part hazing and partly a way to ensure new recruits learn their way around Aifaran. Pepper isn't on duty when she sees Aly and her luminescent fish, however, and this doesn't look remotely like vandalism anyway, it is a glowing painted fish.

"Whoa, how'd you do that?" she asks, darting over to inspect the floating apparition. "This is so cool. Can I touch it?"

[wolfishflame]

Aly's reaching out to touch it when Pepper comes running up, and the fish darts back, blubbing as fish do. "Uh, sure, if it'll let you," she says, glancing between Pepper and the fish - though her attention, truth be told, is definitely held more by the artwork in the air.

"And I have no idea how I did that. It just happened." Story of her life.

A

[lasergrenades]

Pepper has been happy to have Gene staying with her and Bakura, but she knows that he won't be a permanent guest, even if Tony doesn't come back. At least for the moment, she can be around to help him, whether that means scoping out dojo locations or distracting him with baking adventures or just making tea.

But it's Vee who walks up to Gene at the teahouse today, human-sized and without her helm, and cape. She smiles at him softly, but her gaze gleams with a mischief he will have seen in Pepper's eyes time and time again. My Lady would like you to join her at a park nearby. She has instructed me that this is not optional, the ka teases.

[wrathfulkhan]

Even as relatively unarmored as the ka is, she is definitely still recognizable. He sighs a little ruefully; another of Pepper's little schemes, no doubt.

"One moment, then." He drains his teacup and orders two small tea cakes, to go, before paying his bill and standing.

"You really are alike," he says. "Your eyes, I think. Do all kaa become like their people, or are they like that already, or...?"

Is Tolui like him, he wants to ask, but won't.

C

[lasergrenades]

There is one member of the Sentry who does like Miles, but it probably helps that she's gotten to know him before he started making himself trouble. And he's not even that troublesome. He's a journalist. It's his job.

She spots him needling one of her Bresilykian co-worker and rolls her eyes with amusement. Pepper goes over to intervene, a smile belying the reproachful pinch to her eyebrows. "You might try being subtle someday," she teases, hands on her hips.

[upshore]

Miles is more of a nuisance than anything. But a fun nuisance.

"Subtle is just a six-letter word with a silent 'b' in it," Miles says with a grin. "Hey, Pepper."

He waves at the Bresilykian and steps back, hands behind his back, the picture of innocence. "And I'm humanly incapable of subtlety, what are you talking about."

B.

[denyamenti]

While he didn't hesitate in agreeing with Pepper's suggestion to invite Gene to stay with them, Bakura is less versed in how to actually handle said person while he's sharing space with them. So, the thief has been giving Gene as much space as Bakura himself would probably want, if their situations were reversed -- which is an awful lot of space.

However Diabound is not quite so removed as his master, and Gene will find the winged white serpent occasionally nosing about whatever Gene's attempting to do... like a nosy, scaled cat.

snek!

[wrathfulkhan]

Gene always felt a little bit odd whenever he saw how casual Bakura and Pepper were with their kaa, and a little bit guilty that he'd been neglecting Tolui. It was difficult to think of his own ka without thinking of his Shadow Test; while he'd of course passed it, it had forced him to accept things that had been difficult for him to accept, and were still hard for him to believe.

Even when he had been invited to stay in Pepper and Bakura's townhouse instead of the abandoned shack he'd fled to in his grief.

When Gene sees Diabound in his business this time, he's trying to determine how much rhinn he'll need for a proper space for the dojo he wants to start.

"Oh, uh. Hello."

J

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis hadn't been expecting visitors, and she had only released her address to a few people, so the familiar soul was unexpected, though not unwelcome. She'd heard about Tony, and had meant to talk to Gene, but there had never been a 'right' time. She set aside the book she was reading and walked to the door.

"Gene," she said, her tone neutral, uncertain if he wanted sympathies or not, "Would you like to come in?"

[wrathfulkhan]

Gene nodded. "If you don't mind." He respected Valdis, and considered her a friend...even after she'd practically killed him. Sometimes things just shook out that way. He'd forgiven her for that a while ago.

"How have you been? It's been a while."