I was born with lightning in my heels | March Catchall

[lasergrenades]

Characters: Pepper Potts, Devin Parker, and you!
Date: Throughout March
Location: Around Aifaran
Situation: Pepper and Devin are getting used to their new jobs. Pepper has an encounter with building materials, goes on patrol, and walks into a bad neighborhood. Devin deals with some personal issues and gets followed around by a pack of inan.
Warnings/Rating: None yet, will add as needed


A. [Pepper] Verdant Sentry - Justice 5 | Open

Pepper has been dutifully studying and basically trying to be the absolute best recruit possible (she may be trying to skip a few steps in this process given her existing skills), and has apparently had a reasonably good impression. They're not letting her run the place yet, but some members of the Sentry have asked her to describe the legal system back home. Apparently, they're intrigued enough that they take her on a few patrols and ask her what police would do, on at least one occasion she's out and about with them wearing the Rescue armor.

B. [Pepper] Sci-Tech 1 | Open

As cool as flying is to get to know the city, it's important to explore on the ground level, too. Pepper is exploring an area where some construction is ongoing. This is normal, for her. New York City almost always had some sort of construction going on, and the scaffolding is a familiar sight. The sudden alarmed yelling as she walks underneath it, however, is new. Before she even has time to properly process what's happening, her ka appears in front of her. The Knight catches the large hammer that threatened to land on Pepper's head, and is shooting an annoyed look at the workmen above them.

C. [Pepper] Crime 1 | Open

Apparently, this is not a great place to wander into. She's on the outskirts of the city as dusk is falling, and Pepper has a very certain sense of being watched and possibly even followed. Perhaps counter to expectation, she is not all that worried. The dagger Solomon gave her is in her boot, Vee is but a thought away, and she's got enough training to be hard to handle. The utter lack of concern on her part appears to have hooked an actual tail, but she doesn't increase her pace.

D. [Devin] Dreaming Bridge | Leo

Most of the time when Devin is not working at the Academy library, he's either in his room or somewhere else quiet where he can read and remain mostly undisturbed. He's not avoiding people per se, but he's not being particularly social, either. The incident with Trahearne and Klaus is still weighing on him. As a result, the vampire is sometimes less antagonistic than he was last month - although sometimes more. Today is one of those days when his roommates are gone long enough that he can have a little peace and quiet, and therefore is probably in a reasonable mood.

E. [Devin] Somewhere Serving Classy Alcohol | Klaus

While Devin can't really afford the amount of alcohol required to get drunk, he does enjoy the flavor of good liquor and isn't opposed to savoring it from time to time. Recent events have certainly been enough to want to take the edge off things, but even if he can't Devin tends to like the atmosphere of older, well-established bars. The lighting is warm, and there's a small booth in a corner that Devin claims so he can see most of the establishment while he sips at a dark, amber-colored drink.

F. [Devin] Metaphysics 3 | Open

He's going to complain to Leo about this. After the young man foisted the cat-like creature on him and refused to take no for an answer, Devin has had to figure out how to be a pet owner. This meant, predictably, a lot of research, and since the inan displays a reasonable amount of intelligence, Devin decides to start training it. He's in one of the city parks working on getting it to come when called when suddenly there's a small pack of the things that seem to want to use Devin as their own personal jungle gym. The vampire is baffled, but he allows the attention and even carefully tries to return it when they let him. One does nip at him, but it's too gentle to break skin, and Devin actually laughs.

(OOC: Let me know if you want a starter or feel free to write your own!)

Comments

Pepper | The Beach at Sunset

[redlightgreenlight]

After her initial conversation with Pepper, Valdis managed to keep her desire to stretch her legs under control. In Keeliai, she had spent far more time as Hound, but the people there had known her and the people here did not. Hila didn't seem concerned when Valdis discussed it with her, patiently listening to her frustrations with Aifaran without offering comment.

It was mid-day when Valdis texted Pepper to meet her at the beach around sunset. There would be fewer people around, so the chances of being seen were slim. She desperately needed to run. She arrived before Pepper, hiding her bag in the bushes and shifting while Hila kept watch.

[lasergrenades]

Pepper wasn't entirely certain what her armor would be needed for, but since it was a scheduled thing and not an emergency she was just curious about what was going on. Getting to use her armor for hopefully-fun things was cool. At the appointed time, Pepper headed into the skies.

The sunset was beautiful and could have been very distracting, but it wasn't long until she spotted the Hellhound and Hila. Pepper touched down carefully and withdrew the faceplate, grinning. "Does this mean I get to take photos after all?"

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis shook herself from nose to tail, Hila rose as Pepper Landed, padding over to the girl and tipping her head. Valdis followed her ka, walking behind Pepper, tail even with her back.

If it makes you happy. She teased, Besides, if you're that popular, you can help control the imagery.

The light is fading while you chatter. Hila chided before jumping sideways, spraying up sand, and releasing a short, challenging yip.

Valdis looked at Pepper, winked and took off in the opposite direction. Hila yipped indignantly, spun and raced after the black hound.

D.

[iseeall]

Leo had been working pretty hard on a project after he'd seen the fight with Devin and Trahearne. He'd yet to track down the sylvari, but to be honest, he knew Devin and his mental state better. And while Klaus was thankfully there to break up the fight, he heard enough of the fight to figure what was going on.

After all, Devin had pretty much tried to do the exact same thing to him, minus the whole attacking part. So he spent the next few days doing something special, and arrived in front of Devin's door with a suspiciously scuffling box.

He knocked. And would keep knocking until the vampire opened the door.

[annihilist]

Repeated and aggravating knocking would not be necessary, since Devin rose from his book and went to the door. He could hear that whoever was on the other side of it was not alone, though there didn't seem to be two entire people from what he could tell. Too much scratching.

He did appear faintly annoyed by Leo's interruption, and the box got a suspicious glance. "Is there something I can do for you, Leo?"

[iseeall]

Well, at least he seemed in a better mood than he was after the fight, so Leo counted that a win. When Devin opened the door, Leo stared up at him, clutching tightly on the unassuming box.

"Well, I did want to talk to you after you fought with Trahearne and woke half the city up, but I came up with something better." And that was the moment that he shoved the suspicously alive sounding box into (hopefully) Devin's hands. "It's for you."

C If this is all right

[spoilsfun]

If Conan had been any kind of normal child,he definitely should not have been out at this time of day. If he had anyone in the city right now keeping tabs on him, he would never have been allowed to wander this part of the city.

As it was, there was nothing stopping him from exploring here and so he was.

He vaguely recognizes Pepper, but more importantly recognizes the signs of someone who is being followed and knows it. That was enough to awaken his curiosity to see how this would end (and help out if necessary). He waits long enough to see the shadow, and follows after.

The tail now has a tail.

Works for me!

[lasergrenades]

Her ka whispers a quiet warning in her mind, and a second person steps out of an alley as though to block her way. Pepper offers the new intruder an annoyed look as she comes to a halt, hands on her hips.

"Really? You're going to have a seriously bad night if you don't move," she informs the lurker. "And then a seriously bad week when everyone I know comes after you. There'll be a line."

However true the assertion, they don't seem to believe her or care. The one in front of her brandishes a knife and demands her money or 'else'. Pepper rolls her eyes as she reaches into her bag - for a glove, not coins. "Last chance."

[spoilsfun]

Safely concealed in the shadows a short distance away, Conan makes his move when he sees the glint of the knife. If he was reading Pepper correctly, she as more than capable of dealing with the lurker she was confronting. But it wouldn't do any harm to take care of the other one before he could do anything.

With the whisper of an inflating soccer ball and soft thud, the second criminal falls to the ground. Conan quickly checks to make sure he was securely unconscious, then moves on towards the alley.

B

[eyeinfusion]

"H~eh... That's something interesting you got there."

Judai is standing somewhere among the construction, two floors up. (How did he get there? Shhh.) Before any of the workers can finally notice and yell at him though, Judai's jumped down to ground level, taking a surreptitious glance at her left arm.

"How'd you do that?"

[lasergrenades]

Pepper is not, in fact, wearing a duel disk. The dueling gauntlet is in her bag, however, for the moment tucked out of sight along with her deck.

"Uh." She blinks at Judai when he drops down beside her and Vee, for a moment more distracted by his sudden appearance than the hammer that tried to bury itself in her skull. "It's sort of-- instinctive, with her. She protects me."

Said Knight hands the tool back to one of the workers, and puts one hand on a hip and the other on the pommel of a blade. "What? It's not like I could have seen that coming," Pepper complains at her ka. "It was above me. Thanks, though, that was a good catch." A beat. "Uh, Judai, this is Vee. Vee is my ka, she's basically a part of my soul. Um. Yeah. It's a long story."

[eyeinfusion]

He follows Pepper's gaze as she talks to the Knight, his expression undecided whether to display caution or happy.

He knows a thing or two about parts of souls, except his case isn't exactly...what she's describing.

Eventually, though, happy wins out. "That's really cool!"

And though he does kind of feel like the Knight looks like a Duel Monster, he isn't familiar enough with the card and so isn't sure. Certainly the lack of a Duel Disk points otherwise, so he just rolls with it for now.

"Nice to meetcha, Vee!" He waves, and then turns back to Pepper. "I have time for long stories. How'd that happen?"

F!

[bestofthevein]

Well this is definitely an uncanny valley moment.

Kit gives himself a moment to observe the spectacle from a slight distance, cigarette stuck into the corner of his mouth, before he takes it out, breaths out a whorl of smoke, and ambles closer. He doesn't have much choice about the 'coming closer' part, because his bibiru, already deciding that the inan look like they're having too much fun without it, has decided to hop closer to investigate the playtime.

He stops a few paces back, taps the ash off the end of his cigarette, and cocks his head to the side. "Looks like you're done for, salroka," he declares, and there's the bare bones of an olive branch in his tone, in the slight lift of his eyebrows as he looks at Devin where he lies, besieged by inan.

(Like, obviously the guy is still a prick, but he's a prick who's nice to animals, so that's... something.)

[annihilist]

Most of the reason Devin notices Kit's approach is because a few of the inan disengage from crawling up his legs where he sits, and it's the bibiru he spots first. Then his eyes meet Kit's, and for several seconds his expression is blank while he tries to figure out how to deal with being seen like this.

He had not exactly been kind to Kit during their previous encounter. Understatement. And now he's covered in inan, with his guard down and a glimmer of his truer nature shining through. Bugger.

"So it would seem," Devin agrees, a little sheepishly. One of the inan - the one with a collar and therefore presumably his - jumps onto his shoulders with a quiet barking noise. She looks very pleased with herself. "I'm honestly not sure where they all came from." A different inan tries to chew on his shirt, and Devin prods it away. "Hey, that can't be good for you - you don't even eat food."

[bestofthevein]

In response to that blank look, Kit cocks his other eyebrow. Up comes the cigarette for another lazy drag off of it, then down again. Is this a stale mate?

"So it would seem."

Kit cracks a crooked grin, just a little twist at the corner of his mouth. Well, at least this proves the guy isn't incapable of a little good humour at his own expense.

"Yeah--what are they anyway? Cats? Foxes?" He finishes off his cigarette and then flicks it aside--litterbug--and takes a couple more steps forward, just to make sure that his little bibiru doesn't end up in over its fuzzy head. (The small animal is sniffing at Devin's shoes, little wings flapping in futile excitement; it's not going anywhere.) "This place has got some weird wildlife."

C

[ninjainviolet]

From her perch on the roof, Sheena can see what's happening--and knowing that Pepper once worked for the police in Keeliai--holds off on intervening.

Because she has a feeling the young woman is not only more than capable of dealing with the one following her, but knows he's there by the way she's acting.

So, very quietly and using the cover of the night, the ninja does her own following from above, keeping both parties in her line of vision while seeking for any others who might want to join the party.

[lasergrenades]

The tail is apparently going to be persistent. Maybe Pepper looks like an easy mark. She's not exactly imposing; her strength is subtler from a distance, and her abilities completely unknown to these people. They may be about to find out.

She turns a corner, but instead of continuing forward she stops and leans against the building to wait. The dueling glove appears out of her bag, slipped onto her right hand. It's a matter of moments before the tail appears, too.

"You're not very good at this, are you?" Her pursuer stops abruptly, trying to decide what to do next, and there's a glint of silver as they draw a blade. Pepper rolls her eyes, although her heartbeat ticks up. "Seriously? Put that away before you do something you regret. This isn't going to go all that well for you, I promise. Just go home, pretend this never happened, and you can have a nice night."

More hesitation from the stranger, like they're not sure what to do with such a chatty, relaxed person.

[ninjainviolet]

Sheena is still dividing her attention three ways--until she sees Pepper stop. Seeing what the young woman does makes Sheena quietly chuckle. What a typical fighter move to look nonchalant and to invite the enemy to attack. Beautiful.

The other woman's voice carries up to her, and Sheena answers with a shake of her head as she makes herself comfortable up above to watch what happens and to keep an eye out for anyone else coming by. She had seen that glint, and while she appears to be calmly watching right now, she's tensed to launch herself from above if necessary.

But only if necessary.

For Fitz

[annihilist]

After the Fool came to Devin about being assaulted and threatened with a protection racket, he had anticipated a message arranging a time for Devin to meet Fitz. Whatever transpired between Fitz and the Fool threw that plan out the window, so Devin seeks out Fitz on his own. The Fool had mentioned he was working as a gardener, and since Fitz is still living at the Dreaming Bridge, he's not terribly difficult to track down.

Rather than approach Fitz immediately once he finds where his quarry is working, Devin spends a few hours in silent, distant study. He would like to know better who it is that he's dealing with before they speak, and he doesn't care if that gives him an unfair advantage.

Once he discerns that Fitz is done working, Devin sidles up to him with the bare shadow of a smirk on his face; a mask, to see just how easy it is to rile him and then make a point about it. "Fitz? I'd like to have a word," he says without preamble.

[tombadgerlock]

Fitz becomes aware of the man scant moments before he comes over, and that he was not aware more swiftly is a matter of some concern for him. He remains far too preoccupied by the Fool. He is... hurt, and angry, and trying not to be either, for he knows himself to be irrational.

He places a pleasant enough smile on his face, however. This person knows his name. That may mean he has further work for him. It may also mean absolutely nothing. He has introduced himself to a few people here in Aifaran.

"A moment, if you please," he says politely, as he places the small bag of tools into the lockable cabinet. He comes back up to his feet once more, and dusts his hands on his trousers. "How may I help?"

[annihilist]

In his observations, Devin has been adjusting his opinion of Fitz. To see a man of royal blood so comfortable with getting his hands in the soil gave him pause. Perhaps he is more grounded than Devin suspects.

Best to test that theory anyway.

"That remains to be seen," the vampire replies, eyeing the other man from head to toe. "I'm looking into the unwelcome attention the Fool has been receiving. I understand you're close?"

E

[purered]

He hadn't expected to run into Devin at the pub - he'd just come in for a quick drink and maybe to chat with others depending on how his mood took him - but spotting Devin across the room puts much of that out of his mind.

He should apologize - or at least attempt to. His behaviour that night had really been atrocious.

He approached, calm and with purpose, his hand coming to rest on the back of the seat across from Devin.

"May I join you?" He asked, tone solemn, enough to indicate he wasn't here to start something.

[annihilist]

Since the incident with Trahearne, Devin hadn't exactly been avoiding Klaus, but he definitely hadn't sought the other man out. The fight had bothered him far less than Klaus' reaction. It had struck a nerve, and he'd made sure the fang hunter knew it.

He met Klaus' eyes impassively, studying him in silence for a moment. Tempting as it was to say no, Devin could allow him to speak his peace. "If you feel like it."

G is for Get a fucking job, tony

[highprofilerichkid]

While Tony is not, strictly speaking, employed in what one would call a full-time capacity, he is, you know, intending to get a real job, soon, somewhere. Maybe looking at apartments so he knows how much money he needs to be making is a little backwards from how it's usually done, but whatever. He's getting really sick of living with randomly-assigned roommates. (Not that he has a problem with any of his roommates - it's just not an ideal environment when you're in a long-term relationship.)

Pepper is, of course, delighted by the idea of apartment-shopping, so Tony sets a breakfast date with her to look over the offerings. Even if he's not in a financial position to move out quite yet, it'll be fun.

wow I am sorry I didn't see this my bad

[lasergrenades]

Pepper similarly would like to be living somewhere she has more privacy, although moving out is probably going to happen sooner for her than for Tony having been picked up by the Sentry. They're even letting her skip ahead a bit, once she demonstrated her skillset. It's not a lot, but it's something.

Ahead of the breakfast, Pepper does a little research and enlists some help from the Dreaming Bridge staff to collect advertisements. Some are definitely out of their price range, but she includes them anyway. Gotta dream big. She has already taken over a table and is nibbling on a scone, scribbling a few notes in a journal next to her. There is coffee for Tony on the other side of the table.