Honey mustard cannot just replace mustard arbitrarily.

[wrathfulkhan]

Characters: Gene Khan, Miles Upshur, Aly Haskell, Kai, and y'all
Date: throughout October
Location: Aifaran and environs
Situation: hooliganry
Warnings/Rating: Will be added as they arise
[A] | Gene | the Dojo | throughout October | open
The Dojo had opened in the beginning of October, since Gene had scraped together enough money for the lease, and had spent a solid week getting the place ready to open. It didn't quite smell of paint, but it was close.

He's done his best to advertize, but it's slow at first, and he spends the time he's not teaching with doing some forms, both to keep himself sharp and to prove to any potential incoming students that he knows his stuff.

[B] | Gene | the Shunt | backdated to August 27 | closed to Tony
[from here]
"Since May," Gene says. "It's August now." But his shoulders sag with relief, because Tony didn't forget. "If I ever expected to see you again here, it wasn't going to be on a shunt."

It's really him, he's here, and he remembers. Gene never thought he'd be so lucky. He'd never even dreamed it.

Gene took a step closer, and then another step, and then hugged Tony as hard as he could.

[C] | Miles | throughout Aifaran | mid-October | open
Crap.

As a rule, Miles refuses to dress up. But the masquerade ball coming up, well. Considering he wasn't likely to be let in if he showed up both stag and slumming it in casual clothes, he'd decided to go look for something to wear. At least if he went stag, he'd look good - and that didn't bother him.

I really wish I wasn't so picky, he thinks in the third shop he's gone to. And as for a mask, forget it. That's a can of worms he does not want to get into yet.

"I hate shopping," he grumbles.

[D] | Kai | throughout Aifaran | early October | open
If Kai wasn't a Dreamfolk, she'd look like a tourist. She does anyway. The city's strange, mostly due to the presence of so many vertebrates and such a weird mix of cultures! It's pretty weird for someone who's been confined to Inkling culture for almost her entire life, with only a smattering of Octoling culture - and that only recently with the wave of Octolings escaping the underground.

She's wandering around, looking up at everything, and of course trying every single piece of food that she possibly can.

"Okay," she says eagerly to a giggling kedan, "so what's a sea prune?"

[E] | Aly | throughout Aifaran | early October | open
Aly's slacked off on the graffiti lately, especially since she heard the Sentry were getting pretty intent on finding the culprit. Without that, though, there's little to distract her from the reality of her situation.

One: The barrier is acting weird, and it's her fault.
Two: It's getting close to Halloween. Aly used to love Halloween, but ever since the whole incident last year with the attempted faerie invasion, it makes her jumpy.
Three: She had messed with the barrier, and now it's acting weird, and it's close to Halloween.

All of this has combined to make her constantly anxious about history repeating itself and the barrier collapsing. She's a lot more twitchy than usual, which she tries to hide under enthusiasm for the festival, but there's an undercurrent of high-strung nervousness under it, making her seem slightly manic.

[F] | Aly | a restaurant | September 14 | closed to Devin
[from here]
"You do everything with purpose, so I assume that you're being rude on purpose, too," Aly said to him, and off they went.

When they sit down, Aly surveys him over the top of her menu for a moment, before saying with infuriating calm, "You're making friends. That's good. I worry about you."

She's building up to something. You cannot escape, Devin. You are already trapped.

---

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Comments

[wolfishflame]

"Hm." She continues to look at him, and then her eyes briefly go hooded. She jerks her head to the right, seeming to look at something go by, and, satisfied, she opens them more fully and smiles.

"Aside from your weird little...thing..." Aly waves her hand vaguely in a loop, indicating Devin's recursive line, "you've got something here. A close relationship."

Her smile becomes a little more innocent, her eyes wide. The effect is most likely unnerving, as it's a very un-Aly-like expression. "Something you want to share with the class?"

[annihilist]

Oh, shit.

It does not take a genius to figure out who that line connects to. The uncharacteristic innocence on Aly's face doesn't stop the spike of fear that prickles down his spine. That fear is visible in Devin's eyes for too long before he has the wherewithal to hide it. Devin isn't even sure what it is that he's afraid she'll do; he only knows he is not even remotely ready to discuss this with anyone on terms not his own.

Slowly, calmly, Devin puts the menu on the table. "Aly, I am not trying to be obstinate," he prefaces quietly, "but I need you to let this go."

[wolfishflame]

Aly levels her gaze at him, her smile fading slightly. "Relax, Devin. I already know who's on the other end. For what it's worth, I wasn't prying; it was an accident." She really should know better than to look at people like that, especially because she's currently so unstable. Being constantly on guard meant that her senses were heightened. All of them.

Still - he seems serious. And not serious in a bitchy, giving-you-the-brush-off way like he usually is. An interesting change, and one that advises her to tread lightly. Even if that is difficult for her.

"And I'm happy for you. Really. I think this is good for you." Then her usual cheeky smile comes back. "Maybe it'll make you less of a bitter Betty."

[annihilist]

It takes conscious effort not to let the whole mess of conflicting emotions Devin is feeling to become visible on his face - or not fully visible. As much as he likes to pretend it, he is not made of stone. His relationship with the Fool is too new for Devin to fully disguise his vulnerability about it.

At least she's not needling him too hard, or asking for details, or spamming it all over the network. And her regard for his well-being is... appreciated, even if he has trouble accepting it. Especially from someone so young. Belatedly, it occurs to Devin that he hasn't responded yet.

He looks away, frowning. "You asked me if I wanted to share, and I didn't," Devin says plainly, but without any real sharpness. "What I wanted was for it to just be-- ours. Both of us did." Maybe that's what bothers him so much: up until now, this secret did not belong to anyone else. Their bond was safe from scrutiny, but also from the potential support of friends (assuming more of them hadn't figured it out).

He puts his elbow on the table and rubs his forehead. "Please keep this to yourself, Aly."

[wolfishflame]

"I gave you the opportunity to come clean on your own," Aly says, and shrugs. "I just wanted you to know that I know. It'd be...I don't know, dishonest? Of me not to let you know that. I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little hurt that you're keeping secrets, but that's kind of your thing, isn't it."

She takes a breath, and gives him a serious look. "Hey - I may be a jackass, but I'm not an asshole. If you want to keep it on the DL, then it's not my place to put it on the grapevine. And for what it's worth? I'd never judge you. One of my best friends is soulmate-things with someone nonbinary, and only our little group knows because. Well. It's hard to explain to people who don't get that kind of weird spiritual cross-universal bond thing." She waves her hands vaguely, since it's one of those things that really is hard to explain, even when speaking openly. "We don't go around prying into their private business, even though we really want to know what they talk about. But like I said before. Not our place."

She leans back, lacing her fingers together behind her head. "So this isn't exactly new to me. Secrets and all, hiding your heart. I get it." There's a moment of silence while she picks out the right words, even though she's been trying to pick out the right words this whole time. She hopes it shows, even if it doesn't quite work. "And secrets are hard to keep forever. Especially somewhere like here, with empaths and telepaths and nosy parkers like me. It really...it was an accident, Devin," she says softly. "I thought you might be happy to have someone who knows and, you know, is happy that you're happy."

[annihilist]

Is he happy? Devin hasn't actually asked himself that question, mostly because he still doesn't think someone with his track record deserves it (though several people are working on changing that opinion, in different ways). He does feel... lighter with his new partner. More at ease than he's been in a long time. And he does smile more, when they're together. Maybe Devin just has to redefine what happiness feels like for himself.

He sighs and straightens, uncertainty plain on his face. Devin can tell she's trying with how serious she's being; isn't this what he always told her he would respond to? "I didn't think you would judge," he tells her, quiet. "And I'm not angry with you." Devin grimaces faintly. She's not going to understand his reasons for secrecy without knowing more information.

He turns away again. "This is only the second time I've had a partner in my entire life." It's strange to say it out loud to someone else. "The first taught me what it's like to have someone pour their energy into having faith in you, into caring for you and giving you a glimmer of hope that maybe you can have a better life and be the person they see in you - and for all of it, every second, to be a lie."

There is steel in Devin's eyes when he meets her gaze. "She took a great deal of pleasure in keeping me awake while she cracked open my chest. That's what happened the last time I thought I was happy, Aly. That's my only experience to work off of and I barely know what I'm doing, so maybe you can consider giving me some slack about selfishly keeping this to myself," Devin concludes, more defensively than he means to sound.

[wolfishflame]

There's not much else Aly can do except listen to Devin's story. A violent urge flares up in her when she hears what that person did to Devin, and, as has been happening far too often, it doesn't scare her. Some people just needed to be dealt with. Especially someone who attacked her friends.

"I'm sorry," she says, genuine sympathy in her voice, because at first she doesn't know what else to say. And then, after thinking a moment: "If she were here, I'd give her the mother of all beatdowns. Rip her heart out. See how she likes it."

He sounds defensive, and while in part Aly can't blame him, there's a piece of her that's frustrated by what he can't see about all this. "That's why you should let people know, though, if that's happened to you before. At least just one or two people...so if that kind of thing ever happens again, we know who to kill." 'We' meaning 'I' in that sentence...and while in a different context that may have been a joke (in the vein of "you break his heart, I'll break your legs"), she's deadly serious. Her own gaze is flinty - not because she's angry with him, but because she's angry at whoever would do that to him. And she doesn't want that to happen again.

"From what I know, he seems nice," she says. "He even comforted me when I was upset. But no matter what, no matter who tries to do that to you again, especially with such underhanded tactics...I will kill them. And I will make it hurt."

She's only ever pledged herself to kill one person before, which she hasn't been able to do because of being stuck here. But she has killed. And she can control her flames enough to make them burn hot, and burn slowly, and turn someone into a pile of ash.

She takes her sudden bloodthirstiness and holds on to how it feels. She'll need that when she gets home.

[annihilist]

The conviction in Aly's tone and demeanor is met with thinly veiled shock. She is serious, and Devin believes her.

A tangle of mixed emotions binds his tongue for a moment. Her promise of vengeance is appreciated on some level; few people have ever been in a position to want to protect him to that extent. The flip side of that is cold aversion to giving Aly cause to act on her pledge. If the cost of her protection is that she kills for him, that she inflicts suffering-- Devin doesn't want her to pay that price. Not for him. Aly is too young to bear the weight of so much violence, but clearly it is also too late to avoid.

He is exceptionally relieved he did not tell her the redhead was his ex-girlfriend.

"Have some unsolicited advice from a professional killer, Aly: keep it clean," Devin cautions at length, voice low. "If you must take a life, then take it. Don't savor it. You'll lose a piece of yourself every time."

He sighs then, clasping his hands together on the table and running a thumb along his palm. "I'm not worried he'll hurt me. Quite the opposite, in fact," Devin presses on. "I meant I did not want an audience. I didn't want to become preoccupied with other people's expectations while I'm trying not to ruin everything."

[wolfishflame]

Aly smiles when he gives his advice - probably not the reaction he was looking for. "I usually try to, one professional killer to another." Then she pauses. "Since I don't get paid aside from knowing that the world is safe and nobody will ever know, I guess it might be a hobby?"

Way to not sound like a psychopath, Aly.

When he explains his rationale for keeping it quiet, she nods. "I understand. And like I said before...I may be a little bit of an asshole, but I'm not 100% a dick. I'm not going to bother either of you unless you want some bothering." The smile comes back, just a bit. "I'm used to friends keeping their relationships on the down-low, too."