ioduanlogs | In your hands, there's a touch that can heal

Characters: Pepper Potts, Devin Parker, and you!
Date: Throughout September
Location: Around Aifaran
Situation: Pepper starts off having a very bad month that quickly improves, and Devin is trying to learn how to deal with emotions.
Warnings/Rating: None yet, will add as needed.

A. [Pepper] Commerce 3 | Before September 5 | Open

No matter how devastated Pepper may be that Bakura is gone, she also can't put her life on hold forever. At some point, she has to go back to work and spend time away from the townhouse again. As in many things, Pepper takes after her father when it comes to dealing with grief. She does more than go back to work - she throws herself into it with near abandon, even doing daily evening patrols in the Rescue armor once she's off duty. At night she can be found on rooftops or in the air, and when she's not at work or at home it might be possible to catch her at a cafe near the townhouse, looking tired and much more subdued than her normal self. The cafe owner has been treating her to free refills, and sometimes Pepper will sit there for hours watching people go by, or staring off into the distance.

B. [Pepper] September 5 | Bakura

[watch this space]

C. [Pepper] Around Aifaran | After September 5 | Open

Once Bakura returns and is his normal self, Pepper's entire demeanor becomes brighter. She smiles a lot, makes conversation, and is clearly energized. This means she's not just going to work and coming home; she'll stay nearer home for the first little while, but before long she's shopping and exploring again. Her nightly Rescue patrols don't stop entirely, but now it's for the joy of flying rather than for distraction.

It may also be possible to find her in a park with open space sparring against her ka or one of the other Shadow monsters she's capable of summoning.

C. [Pepper] Verdant Sentry | Mid September | Valdis

Despite working for the same organization, Pepper and Valdis don't get to see each other at work all that much. They were in separate units that catered to their particular skill sets as Dreamfolk - though Valdis could probably work just about anywhere they needed her. The recent incident with the Narrakra had definitely fed into Pepper's tendencies to investigate things outside her purview, and she was fairly certain that Valdis was intent on much the same given her network post. She'd asked her friend to meet her for lunch where they could Discuss, and a cafe near the central Verdant Sentry building seemed fitting. Pepper claimed a table and waited for Valdis to arrive.

D. [Devin] Apartment | September 2 | X

After an intense conversation with the Fool, Devin has been going in circles about what to do. He's simultaneously convinced that any attempt at a relationship is a terrible, impossible idea; and yet can't make the decision to forever cut that tie. Normally, he would never bring this to anyone because it would be too much vulnerability for him to be comfortable with. But X has already born witness to that, and since he's read Devin he can also understand what's happening without needing to be told all the details. Devin bites the bullet and texts X to ask him to come to the apartment to discuss something important.

E. [Devin] Die Rose Tulpa | September 8 | The Fool

So. X and Devin had a long conversation, and after a few more days of ruminating Devin makes a tentative - but deeply significant - decision. He shoves down the nerves and heads to Klaus' cafe to see if the Fool is there selling his carvings or in his apartment. And it seems he comes bearing gifts; Devin has a small paper bag with him that swings like it has something weighty in it. When he doesn't spot the Fool in the cafe proper, Devin takes a deep breath and cautiously heads upstairs. A full minute goes by in which he simply stares at the door before finally knocking.

F. [Devin] Meta 3/General | Throughout September | Open

Devin is out and about a little more than he has been over the past few months, the turmoil finally beginning to die down (at least on some fronts). Valdis' brief devolvement into her ten-year-old self forced him back into the city and demanded he set aside some of his misery to ensure her safety and well-being. When out on a purposeless walk in the early evening, Devin finds himself at an outdoor market that's closing up. He comes away from one merchant's table with a serrated knife and stops on the sidewalk to examine it closely.

It starts living on his belt after that, hidden mostly from view. Devin also returns to a more normal work schedule this month after doing his best to have the most erratic pattern of employment possible. He can be found most days in the Academy's largest library, helping to maintain the organization of shelves or doing the careful work of archive management.

(OOC note: Feel free to let me know if you'd like a starter or make up your own!)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The request had come as a pleasant surprise, not that Valdis didn't miss Pepper, but they had all been busy in their own way. She had somewhat thrown herself back into her work, trying to regain some sort of foothold in the Sentry. Right now she was mostly stuck in interrogations, a fact which had led to a small row which left her even more stuck in interrogations. Her break couldn't have come soon enough and she eagerly met Pepper at the cafe, happy to leave the office for awhile.

"It's good to actually see you, Pepper," she said, taking a seat at the table, "It's been awhile since we could do more than wave across the room."

While Pepper was not always one to follow the rules, she was less inclined to be disruptive when already inside a system like the Sentry. She spent about half her time in armor and the other half in uniform, with thankfully only a bare minimum of paperwork.

She greeted Valdis with a broad smile; it really had been a while since they'd had some one-on-one time. "Yeah, it's been really busy lately with everything the Dreaming has been throwing at people. That's kind of what I wanted to talk about, actually, if you've got time for it over lunch," Pepper said, getting right to the point. Was this what power lunches were all about? "Seems like you've been getting into some extracurricular activities."

"Busy is an understatement," Valdis sighs, "If not sleeping didn't have less than desirable side effects, I'd probably shrug it off for a bit."

She arched a brow at Pepper. Her only extracurricular, aside from aggravating her supervising officer, was her work with researching the Death Plane and the events of the Narrakra. Valdis hadn't yet gone after the religious groups in depth, though she planned to target Ban Om first.

"If you mean my unsanctioned investigation into the religious groups, then I've got time."

"One of those undesirable effects being me scolding you a lot," Pepper teased lightly. Valdis was her elder in many ways, but that didn't mean Pepper wouldn't try to make her take care of herself. Most of her favorite people had a tendency to overwork themselves.

"That's part of it," she said with a small nod. "I know the Sentry has an investigation about the ship still going on, but they're obviously keeping it pretty secret. I'm not sure if it's just because they don't know much and don't want to confuse people, or if there's actually something to hide."

Pepper had few illusions that an organization like the Sentry would be completely black and white - she'd idealized SHIELD and learned a hard lesson about that. She believe the Sentry was good at it's core, at the very least, or she wouldn't be working for them.

"I've been thinking about trying to talk to the crew, if I can find them," she admitted. "As far as I can tell there isn't, like, a bar against it, but I think it's worth attacking a few sides of the problem at once."

Valdis laughed, "You wouldn't be the only one, but don't worry, I'm doing my best to not give any of me lesser traits an edge."

She had little knowledge of the investigation being done by the Sentry. The crew was in a secure location and she hadn't tried to pry the information from anyone. She hadn't wanted to stir the waters too much.

"I'm inclined to think there's something to hide," she said more solemnly, "But I'm not a trusting person."

Something most people from before knew.

"Talking would be the easiest route, but if they don't want to tell us, then we'd need to do what I'm already planning anyway."

"Good." Pepper's expression has all the hallmarks of someone sticking their tongue out without her tongue actually appearing.

Most organizations like the Sentry hid information. Sometimes this was necessary, and sometimes that was just an excuse to cover their asses.

"I'll ask around anyway, just to test the waters. See if I get push-back. What are thinking of doing?" She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial tone, an impish gleam in her eyes as she leaned forward. "Does it involve breaking into something?"

Valdis knew good people in the Sentry, and they must have their reasons for hiding the investigation. Keeping things close had it's merits, but not when there were people equipped to help, perhaps she really should push more.

"No, Pepper," she said with a sly smile, "I'm a member of the Sentry, we shouldn't go around breaking the laws."

She really didn't plan on breaking and entering, but there were other things she could do.

"I'm going to search for Death Magic in the temples," she said, her voice low to avoid others overhearing, "It will take time of course, but it's a potent magic. If people are using it in any of the temples, I'll know."

'Shouldn't' being the operative word. Sometimes those laws were the problem in the first place, although breaking and entering was probably not on that list. (She'd done it plenty of times before in service of a greater goal.)

Pepper frowned a little in thought; it was a logical plan based on what Valdis had broadcast. "I'll admit I expect corruption in religious groups to usually be more... mundane but it's definitely not impossible," she allows, tapping her fingers against the table gently. "If they are up to something, that's it's own problematic ball of wax. Do you have a way you can prove it on more than your word, just in case? Extra evidence never hurts."

"I'm sure most is far more mundane, but what I saw on the Narrakra was nothing of the sort. I mostly want to know where they learned to use death in that way. If it was here, or whereever they were."

It had been years for them, so it was possible that what they had done had nothing to do with the religions on the turtle.

"The first step is identifying where the issue is occurring," Valdis replied, "Evidence can come later. I mean, if we know someone is guilty, then we can find and match the evidence more easily."

It's what she had been helping with for interrogations.

"I kind of hope it wasn't here," Pepper sighed. "We had more than enough scary religious stuff back in Keeliai. Not that I'm hoping we won't find anything, obviously, because then we're sort of back to square one."

Or back to finding the crew and getting them to talk more openly. That wouldn't be impossible, especially with Valdis' abilities, but it wouldn't be a comfortable situation either.

Determination spread across her features. "What can I help with?"

"I'd prefer it wasn't here either," Valdis agreed, "But the other side of that is what if the crew members decide to teach it to others. It worked, they got home, why would they not spread it?"

So even if the darkness had not yet spread, there was every possibility that it would. She closed her eyes momentarily, trying to think back to what she had seen. It was difficult to discern much based on her point of view and she was beginning to think that talking to the crew was definitely the faster route.

"If you can find the location of the crew that would help, perhaps I can convince the Chief to let us talk to them in the meantime. I'd prefer to not go behind my lead's back, but it was bound to happen eventually."

In your hands, there's a touch that can heal | September Catch-all

C

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject