ioduanlogs | I've never been to oovoo javer.

Entry tags:

I've never been to oovoo javer.

Characters: Gene, Jackie, Miles, Aly, and yoooouuuu!
Date: Februrururururuary
Location: Throughout Aifaran
Situation: So, this is new.
Warnings/Rating: Will be added as necessary! Also, stupidity, probably.

A. [Gene] | throughout Aifaran | early February | open
Adjusting back to somewhere he's not actively being hunted is harder than Gene would like to admit. Almost the exact length of time spent in Aifaran as he'd spent at home, and he's still looking over his shoulder and tensing at sudden noises. He'd gone back to face the music, after all, and SHIELD had come to collect.

God, but he hates this. He hates that so little time spent back there has made him so paranoid about a world that he'd called home, mere weeks ago, the only place he'd genuinely called home since he was a child. The Sentry actively trying to recruit him doesn't help, either. He'd been with the Police Department back in Keeliai, but law enforcement had hunted him back in his own world.

The viral attention he's gotten on Xa Xa with the few photos he's posted has been uncomfortable. But at the same time...it's nice to be recognized for something benign. Here, nobody cares who he is, what he's done. Maybe he can start acting like it.

(Maybe some fun selfies with Tony and Pepper will help.)

And Kalliel is here, but he can't talk to the turtle he'd once protected, and that hurts, too. Sometimes he goes out and sits down on the shell, staring out at the sea.

I'm here.

Do you know that I'm here?

I didn't want to leave you.

I'm sorry.

B. [Jackie] | Aisling Tower | early February | open
Jackie's a little flummoxed by the invitation extended to him to visit the Aisling Tower, but he accepts. He'd chosen to stay, after all, and he'd had some experience with the Dreaming besides. Especially back in the days of Mali--

--he still can barely even think the name.
Still, he wants to be as helpful as he can. This place has given him everything. A second chance at life.

C. [Miles] | throughout Aifaran | throughout February | open
Journalism! Journalism with film! With cameras!!! Miles is so happy he could burst. Finally, finally, his niche is here. Time to get his ass a job!

And to walk around filming absolutely everything, so he is bound to trip over something and/or someone. And/or barrel into someone. It's a risk he must take. Ah, the price we pay for knowledge.

Additionally - later in the month - Miles is invited to a political event. And they want his Opinions on things. Even if they're blunt. 'Miles Upshur' may as well be a synonym for 'blunt', and his Opinions are probably not going to be welcome. Probably because they begin with 'eat the rich'.

D. [Aly] | throughout Aifaran | throughout February | Kaito
Crash.

"Oh, for--!" Aly bends down to pick up the glass she'd dropped, mumbling to herself about being an idiot. Then, the mark on her wrist glows and the glass pieces form back together.

"Uh. Uh!" She raises her voice. "Guys! I did a thing!"

E. [Aly] | throughout Aifaran | throughout February | open
"Look, I didn't do it!"

Aly is extremely huffy about this. She wouldn't dare destroy a spirit house! "I know how spirits are, okay! I wouldn't risk angering them!"

She takes a deep breath and looks at the offended kedan. "If you want...I can rebuild it for you. Or I can help. I dunno. That's...kinda what I do?" She rolls up her sleeve to show off the Restoration mark on her left wrist.

F. [Aly] | the Dreaming Bridge | February 2 | Devin
For once - for once - Aly is nervous. She'd admitted to wanting advice, from Devin of all people, and that stung, but, well...apparently he'd ended up in a situation that might await her, if things went wrong in the best way possible. And anyway, his advice would help. Doesn't mean she has to like it, though.

G. [Miles] | a cafe in Aifaran | February 1 | Pepper
Well, at least tea is the same, even if nothing else is.

Aifaran is more like New York than Keeliai had been, though smaller - a larger city than Keeliai, more bustling, filled with more people and more types of people. It's almost like being in a sci-fi movie. (Not like he doesn't practically already live in one, anyway.) Or that one show he can't remember the name of.

And at least Pepper is here - Pepper, who he'd menaced when the Red Mist had been in his system during the cultist attack, who'd talked him down, who understood. He'd made progress back home. He was pretty sure she'd be interested to hear about it.

H. [Jackie] | a restaurant in Aifaran | February 5 | Brigid
He's overjoyed to have her back. She's different, but still Brigid, and Jackie honestly hadn't thought he'd ever see her again. He'd braced himself for losing her. He'd accepted it. He'd lost Jiu Mei, and that had been his fault. He'd lost Brigid, too. But now she was back, and that was cause for celebration.

He'd found the one set of nice clothes he'd been able to take through his Dreaming stasis, and knocks on her door, grinning like a fool. She's back. She's really back.

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The situation back home has gotten a lot more present recently than when they were in Keeliai, fresh in all of their minds. Pepper's been inclined to just pick up where they left off and make a new life here in Aifaran, but she's also aware it's not that simple. Gene's reaction to her arrival, to Tony arriving later, and the way he's been on edge since they got here makes it even clearer that they have more work to do together.

She's been giving him space, but at the same time she's not inclined to leave him alone for too long, so she goes to join him outside the city one day. "We should make another beach party day," Pepper announces without preamble, settling beside him. "Build more sandcastles. Do you think people here know how to surf?"

Gene's been trying, he really has. He wants to keep going on like things had been in Keeliai before everything happened and they'd gone home, but he knows that's impossible, and that it'd be irresponsible, too.

Things had changed. He'd accepted that they would when they'd left and never expected to return, but now that they had returned...now, he wasn't sure what to do.

"I don't know," he says, looking at her, utterly unsurprised. "I wouldn't be surprised if the Castians could."

"Ooh, probably, they like the water a lot," she agrees, and her smile is a few notches down from excitement. "If they don't, though, it could be a fun sport to introduce."

The whole place is made of islands - if no one has thought about riding waves around here, they have been sorely missing out. Of course, Pepper has no idea how to surf herself, but it's the principle of the thing.

She considers him in silence for a moment longer before continuing. "I know you came out here to think, so if you don't feel like talking we don't have to." Pepper wants to talk, but Gene's got the larger share of challenges to sort through. "But I'm here if you do. Alright?"

"...thanks."

They sat in silence for a moment before Gene laughs. "This is weird, isn't it? I mean, I'd accepted what was going to happen, and then...and now this. And now this."

He stares out at the sea before looking back at her. "I don't like that I have to hide, but I know that if I come forward before things get sorted out - or if they never do..."

Then he'll be locked away forever, he doesn't say, because they both know it.

"It is weird," Pepper agrees softly. "But I think it's a good kind of weird, mostly." Second chances. Third or fourth or more. What did it matter, except that they got another one?

Her mouth twists sadly as she thinks about him spending his entire life locked away, or at a distance from the people who love him. Never feeling safe. Never being safe.

"Yeah." There's not much else to say to that, is there? "But we don't know what's going to happen in the future. All we can really do is try to make it one that we want to live in, where we get to live in it together. And in the meantime..." She gestures around them. "We find a way to belong here, again. I mean, that's not necessarily going to be super easy, but I think we can do it."

"You know, I've belonged here in Konryu more than I ever have back on Earth," Gene says quietly. "And I don't know how I feel about that."

He really isn't. He wishes that he felt more comfortable back in their own world, but it had been nothing but cruel to him for most of his life.

"So that'll be easier for me than others, I think."

That brings Pepper's smile back, if small and slightly sad. "I'm just glad you have that somewhere. I wish things were better back home, duh... but we weren't back for very long. It doesn't really give us a lot of information about where things go from here. The way I see it, we can either worry about what happens until we get ulcers, make plans to do something about it, or stop worrying about it completely."

That last one is unlikely, even in the long term. They would all go home eventually. Still, if anything supports living in the present, it's Konryu. She takes a deep breath and exhales slowly, tapping the ground with her fingertips.

"When we were home... did you think that Tony and me would give up at all?"

"No," Gene says immediately. "Not for a moment." Succeeding, though... "And you know me. I prefer to plan and then take action. I only have anxiety when I can do nothing."

"Good," she replies firmly. "Then that's something you know you can trust, even if everything else is crap."

Pepper knows that success is only going to happen with a hell of a lot of hard work. She still has hope for it, some of which is even grounded in rationality rather than emotion.

"And yeah, I kinda figured," Pepper continues fondly. "So: we plan. We've got a couple more weeks worth of data, and we've also got new lives to figure out since we need to get jobs again and stuff. There's probably enough to keep us all busy for a while." She pauses, looking at him a little worriedly. "Think you'll be able to take your mind off home enough to be here? I mean, not all the time, this is a huge deal and it sucks, but-- you are here, and you should be able to enjoy that."

Gene exhales and stares out at the sea. "Yeah. When I first came here, it took me a while, but I accepted it. Now? I'm happy to be here. It's a nice respite. It'll...yeah. I just need a little time to adjust to not being on the run again. I'm a bit of a frightened rabbit, and I expect I will be for a while. But I'll heal. Especially since you and Tony are here. If I were alone..."

Then he'd be even lonelier than he would be on Earth.

"I know." It had faded quickly, when she'd first knocked on his door, but the fear hasn't gone away yet. There has to be something primal to that, to being hunted and the way it gets hooks into your brainstem.

"And taking your time to adjust is totally fine. I think it'd be weird if you didn't, honestly. Like, talk about culture shock." Pepper bumps him gently with her shoulder, a bit less involved than a hug as far as showing affection. "You're strong, Gene. Really strong. You've been through a ton of awful things and you're still able to keep moving. I'm seriously proud of you."

That shoulder-bump startles a laugh out of Gene. "Oh, you're being serious?" he says. "No. Don't be proud of me. I've come through a lot of awful things, yes, but I've done more. I'm doing better, though. I'm trying."

He sighs. "Have you been able to speak with Vee?" Kaa were something he hadn't tried to mess with since he'd arrived back here. He had barely been able to connect to his own after his shadow test before everything went off the rails.

"That's why I'm proud, dork." The statement has an air of finality to it, like she's not going to take further argument. Trying was better than not - he was working to change, and that's the most important thing to her now.

"Yeah. It took a day or so, I think the magic dampening thing is still happening for Dreamfolk," Pepper answers. "I haven't done any summoning yet, but I don't see why it wouldn't work since I still have the dueling glove. There hasn't really been a reason for it, and I didn't want to freak anyone out. What about you? Are you able to reach Tolui?"

Yeah, he knows better than to argue with her on that one.

"I haven't tried," he admits. "I'm a little afraid to, truth be told. What if I can't? I know now that you can still reach Vee even after we've been home, but...maybe it was all for nothing."

He'd faced his demons, but still not entirely conquered his self-doubt.

Punching him in the shoulder after the friendly nudge is probably not the best idea, but the thought crosses her mind. She does straighten a little, though, looks him right in the eye, and speaks with absolute certainty:

"He'll always be there, Gene, because he's a part of you. You might have to work at summoning him here physically, but a Shadow Test isn't the kind of thing that wears off," Pepper assures him. "The connection's there, if you look for it. The same rules that apply to me, apply to you."

She can't think of a reason that wouldn't be the case - the Dreaming cutting Gene's thread to his ka and not hers made no sense (although that didn't strictly rule it out). The point stands that Tolui remains Gene's ka regardless of the test, and that going through it had only brought the creature out.

Gene nods. When Pepper's serious, he knows to listen up. And he has to admit, she knows a lot more about this whole situation than he does.

"Yeah," he says, sounding more sure than he feels. "You've got to be right. I mean, I have very little idea how to do that, though."

Smart man.

She makes a thoughtful sound, understanding. It had been easier for her, she thinks, than it has been for several others because she has the dueling glove, and with it came an inbuilt association to the Shadow Realm. Vee had quite literally made her first appearance when Pepper donned it.

"For me, at least, it's like there's a thread running from me straight to Vee that doesn't go away like other summons do," she tries to explain. "It's there in my head, and right in the middle of my chest, but it's more a feeling than something super physical." Pepper pauses, and closes her eyes for a moment. Describing her link to Vee is complicated. "I can almost see it, sort of... golden, against complete darkness."

When she opens her eyes, she's wearing a slightly apologetic look. "Sorry, I don't know if that actually helps any. I think-- if you call for him, he should be able to hear you. Maybe he can't respond verbally yet - do you know if he talks? They don't all talk with words - but he should be able to give you some kind of reply."

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I've never been to oovoo javer.

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