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

[annihilist]

"He is the type to attack undead people basically on sight," Devin pointed out, still peeved. "Which, frankly, is the only real reason he needed. Being acerbic may not have helped, but like I told your boss, all I did was answer his bloody questions."

Any more argument was soundly cut short by the inan emerging from the box, and the vampire stared at it not unlike a deer in the headlights.

Oh, hell. The thing was cute. Leo would probably be unhappy with him for saying no. He might even just leave it in Devin's room regardless of any refusal. This wasn't a fight he was going to win, was it?

He caught the inan before she could scramble out of the box and hit the floor, holding her carefully but uncertainly. "Ha ha, you got an energy vampire for the real vampire," Devin said, slightly distracted by the wriggling fluff in his hands.

[iseeall]

Leo had a lot more to say about Devin's personality not helping him win any cases, but now that the man was sufficiently distracted by the Inan, he gained the upper hand.

"Why are you so obsessed with vampires, jeez," Leo said, dropping the box ungraciously on the floor. "It makes them easy to take care of, plus they're super smart and excellent companions. Also maybe you won't start fights if you have a cute animal to pet. It's therapy." Was he being judgemental? Absolutely. But look at that Inan sniffing at your arm and face and just try and be mad.

[annihilist]

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because I am one," Devin retorted, glancing from the inan to Leo and back again.

The tactic Leo had chosen, namely distraction with a small animal, was reasonably effective. It did not take away from how upsetting the assumption that he had started the fight was. Nor did he appreciate that Leo thought he needed therapy. (He did, but Devin had to want to help himself). It felt like judgement on top of judgement, and that Leo was entirely missing the point of what had happened - not unlike Klaus.

"I did not start that fight, Leo," he said flatly, shifting his grip on the inan so she couldn't escape easily. His agitation was not faked; this was genuinely bothering him. "I do not appreciate you jumping to conclusions and making decisions for me."

[iseeall]

Leo wished that he'd brought one of his bibiru's to hold, so he'd be less inclined to want to strangle something with his hands-or drive his fingernails into his skin. He knew that Devin was going to be moody about this, but-well, Leo himself had to figure out why this made him so upset.

"Look, I'll admit that I didn't hear all of the arguement, but I definitely heard enough of it to know you weren't telling the whole truth." Really, maybe it would've stopped Trahearne from getting mad. "If you think I'm wrong, then tell me what you were trying to do."

[annihilist]

Devin was well aware that there was more he could have done to mitigate the situation, or at least that the tactic he had gone with was perhaps not the best one.

"I wasn't trying to do anything in particular," he answered honestly. The inan was nosing around the collar of his shirt, and he petted her entire face to dissuade her from getting too interested. Putting her down would only work if he knew he could keep her from running away. "We were having a conversation, and no, I didn't feel the need to immediately elaborate on my secrets because I didn't imagine he would try to murder me in the lounge. The fact that he would have had an extremely difficult time of succeeding is beside the point. He tried to kill me because of what I am, not who, Leo. I don't blame him for that, but both you and Klaus seem to fail to understand what that means."

[iseeall]

"Well, I still think you're oddly forgiving of someone who literally tried to kill you, but I was gonna go talk to Trahearne later to figure out why he was overreacting so much. Just knowing what you've said to me....well, forgive me for thinking you have something of a death wish."

Leo wouldn't put it past Devin to not care if the guy tried to kill him, and even encourage him, and that's the part that hurt the most. But like before, he just never seemed to be able to communicate properly. What did the sylvari have against vampires anyway? Even Klaus, who hated them, didn't attack Devin like that.

[annihilist]

"Many people have tried to kill me. Trahearne will not be the last. It's part of my lifestyle," Devin replied wearily. "I understand his hatred for undead creatures, Leo, but I don't have a death wish."

He tucked the inan more securely against him so she couldn't escape, and this was apparently comfortable enough that she ceased wiggling quite so much. Leo's concern was… not unwelcome, precisely, but helped him better understand where the judgement was coming from.

"I'm not afraid to die," he continued after a breath. "I'm not afraid of pain. I've been in far more dire situations than that. Trahearne hunts and kills the undead - it's apparently what he was tasked to do, to save his corner of the world. In that respect, I'm not much different than him. Whether there's deeper meaning than that, I don't know, but keep that in mind if you speak with him." The inan nuzzled his neck, and Devin ignored her for now. "Making assumptions is what got us into this mess in the first place."

[iseeall]

"Well of course I was going to ask him-that's not really a normal reaction! Just you didn't tell him you weren't actually undead, did you?" Leo folded his arms, looking every bit annoyed as he felt inside. "You got lucky with someone like me who's useless in a fight, but if you keep being ascerbic for no reason you're gonna get murdered."

At some point Devin might also notice that the inan he was holding onto had a collar that looked very suspiciously like one of the friendship knots from the recent celebration. "He's really not that bad a guy except apparently when it comes to zombies. How am I supposed to react when I just see you fighting with someone outside my room?? Does it ever occur to you that no matter how much you deny it, some people might not WANT to see you dead or doing that??"

[annihilist]

"I am undead, Leo. Just because I have significant differences to the rest of my kind does not abate the fact that I have no pulse and no soul," Devin replied, dredging up calm in the face of Leo's annoyance.

A glance at the inan did draw his eyes to the cord around her neck, and what that cord was tied to be. Devin stared at it for several seconds and sighed. Given their conversation when Devin's spectral friends had visited, perhaps he should have expected this. Turning away, Devin sat on the edge of his bed, and dropped the inan beside him. She seemed content to stay there, for now.

"I'm not accustomed to people giving a damn," he said quietly, his eyes on the floor. "What I spend my life doing demands not having anyone at my back worrying for me. I've told you that." Devin raised his head, expression impassive as he looked to Leo. Yes, he remembered how he changed in Keeliai, but he also had five months at home to contend with. "If there had been a real risk to anyone but me, I would have made different choices."

He would protect others at the cost of his own safety without a second thought. Devin believed he understood what Leo was trying to do, but the young man was chipping at a wall over a century old. It would not come down or be reshaped so easily, and Devin still wasn't sure he even wanted it to.

[iseeall]

It might have been a herculean task, but Leo had been alive for exactly 19 years and had proved that he was too stubborn to just let some things go. His sister may have even given him a nickname for it.

"Look, okay I'm pretty sure you do have a soul, or some wierd white floaty thing inside of you, but disregarding that, you aren't actually a threat to anyone around here. Well, at least to ones who aren't actively being terrible," Leo said. He was pretty sure that Devin was the type to help someone in trouble, even if it was just children or small animals.

"Like maybe you could've been like 'yeah I may be someone who can do those things, but I'm not gonna' and maybe he would've listened. Then it would fall to Trahearne to see that you're being reasonable. Driving people away normally doesn't include riling people up so much they will try to murder you. I would think you're more self aware than that," he finished.

[annihilist]

This was not a comforting reminder that Leo could see the aspect Devin carried, and he was privately grateful the young man had not pressed about it.

"Most of the people I engage with in my world are predisposed to want to murder me anyway, so it wasn't particularly unfamiliar as a situation," Devin remarked dryly. "I am as aware now as I was then there were other things I could have done."

The inan shoved her face against his leg, trilling. This argument is not going well, insofar as neither of them is likely to change their position. Devin closed his eyes for a moment, exhaling slowly. "I appreciate your concern," he acknowledged at length. It was a true statement, but a difficult one to say aloud. "For now, what's done is done. Trahearne may think of me what he will. I don't need him to like me to exist in the same city peacefully, so long as he doesn't risk other's safety again."

[iseeall]

"I don't like other people thinking of you as a monster. You get enough of that from yourself and your parents," Leo said, scrunching himself up to make himself look even smaller. He really hoped that Devin wouldn't at least get angry for bringing that up.

"But I don't think Trahearne will cause any more trouble, especially after I talk to him. He's really not that type. I guess he just had a grudge." Against undead apparently.

[annihilist]

Devin barely suppressed a wince. A flicker of pain could be seen in his eyes when he looked up, and though he was tense, there was no anger in his frame. Frustration, maybe. Confusion. Definitely uncertainty.

As if sensing Devin's displeasure, the inan rested her chin on his lap. "I will make an effort not to needle him unduly, should we encounter each other again," the vampire promised. His gaze dropped to the floor again.

Then, more quietly. "Please do not mention them again, unless I do."