I've never been to oovoo javer.

[wrathfulkhan]

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.

Comments

[upshore]

"The internet, usually, but if pots and pans is what it'll take, I'll use those, too," Miles says, grinning.

"Yeah. That's a start. And it'd be better than nothing, even if sometimes things don't go as fast as we want."

[choseanidiot]

"Heard of that," he nods, pursing his lips. Seems this place, too, had something similar, if on a smaller scale? He wasn't exactly sure, since when his visits to Japan only happened once a year and there was so much to pick up on every time plus the other reason he was doing that, it was hard to learn about stuff in-depth. "Seems like it'd make things a lot easier."

The comment about not going as fast as they want earns a grimace, and Rokuta almost curls up right then and there on the table as if he's both younger than he both is and appears to be, and like they aren't where they are. He doesn't though, just huffs.

"Always takes so much time, it's a surprise when you finally get somewhere."

And a gift. An endless, amazing gift that's as fragile as a life. At least at home, those lives can last long enough to make sure the changes happen. Not something other places have the luxury of.

[upshore]

"What, the internet? Do they not have that where you come from?" He holds up his mangled hands - the index finger on his right hand is half-gone. "Hey, uh, no judgment, I'm just curious."

Then he smiles a little. "Yeah. It always is a surprise. But it's rewarding, y'know? Especially if it makes people's lives better immediately."

[choseanidiot]

"Yeah," Rokuta says with a smile, and then he outright chortles, shaking his head, "and no, we don't. It's, uh..." A pause as he waves a hand, trying to think of how to phrase it.

"Technology's a lot more... basic? than here, or on Earth. Never needed anything more, but, huh... If it's internet then just subtract 'bout five hundred years of technology and you've got it."

Something about there, anyway.

"... Though I know someone who'd probably like it if we developed it since it'd let him keep his nose in things more easily," Rokuta added belatedly. Though, Shouryuu would probably also not like it since it'd give him less excuse to wander to find the information he wanted. So, 50-50, probably.

[upshore]

"I mean, that's at least 80% of what the internet's good for. Creeping on people," Miles says. "People really like to overshare."

Like, yikes. Sometimes he thinks that an internetless life would suit him better, but he'd miss Twitter fights too much.

"So what's that like? I mean, I've seen historical reenactments, but you live it."

[choseanidiot]

"It's just... life." What else is he supposed to call it? Even when he was born, that was the sort of technology he'd have expected. "There's stuff I wish we could introduce, and some of it we might, with some thought. Y'know, lots of the medical stuff would be real cool..."

Scrunching his nose, he shakes his head again, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees and chin in his hands. Some of the political ideas too, but that... ah well.

"Though, if you're only thinking 'bout horse-drawn carriages, I gotta say, we're not quite that limited," Rokuta throws a grin sideways over at Miles, cocking his head, "not everybody got access to a tamed Youjyuu of course, but since they can fly, you can cross larger distances faster if needed."

[upshore]

"Uh, what's a Youjyuu? Did I say that right?" Miles blinks. "I mean, clearly it flies. But aside from that, I'm totally stumped."

[choseanidiot]

"More or less," Rokuta grins, then shrugs, "practically like any sort of animal, just sometimes with colours or patterns they wouldn't otherwise have. Big cats, some of 'em look like horses or winged wolves, ox... I'd give you a better description if they were more limited in what they look like."

The quirk of his lips is slightly apologetic.