ioduanlogs | [EVENT] Moon and Mirrors (Welcome Mingle Log)

[EVENT] Moon and Mirrors (Welcome Mingle Log)

Characters: ALL
Date: January 15
Location: At the Dreaming Bridge and all over Aifaran!
Situation: A large influx of Dreamfolk arrive in time for one of the Lunar Festivals, and they're all invited!
Warnings/Rating: N/A

A surprising amount of Dreamfolk have arrived within a short time frame - a peculiarity remarked upon by a number of Aifaran's residents. It is unusual in that it coincides with a lunar festival, one which only happens every fifty or so years.

Newcomers will find the streets packed with all sorts of people, stalls of fried and sugared foods, carnivalesque games and rides, and all other manner of things to do. Merchants are very keen to get their wares out there, and the stipend given may just burn a hole in your pocket when you see what's for sale.

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Kylo is a little bit luckier for having the Force to help his reflexes, but that does absolutely nothing for the dangerously-full glass of water he'd had, which is now... laying sideways on the tray, contents spilled all over his plate.

"Watch it!" Kylo barks back, taking a step away from the man he only knew in passing even before his own galaxy's faces were at the forefront of his mind again. "If you're trying to make trouble you can have it!"

Anani padded to the edge of the bed and sat, curling his fluffy white tail over his paws, staring at X with curiosity in his emerald green eyes.

Valdis finished washing her hair, trying to concentrate on the hope that should have accompanied her presence here. Her arrival in Keeliai so long ago had been a new opportunity, there was no reason this place should be different. Except for the fact that it was. With a deep sigh, she turned the water off, giving up for the time being on finding purpose. That could come later, for now, she would just have to get settled.

Grabbing a towel, she wrapped it around herself and examined her clothes. They didn't exactly need a wash, but she had another shirt on the bed that she would prefer to wear under her vest. She opened the door to the main room without much thought, freezing when she saw the man crouching on the floor. She stared at him, trying to decide how she should react, but Anani mewed loudly before she could say a word, jumping off the bed and running over to wind himself around her legs.

[Valdis is avoiding everyone like they have the plague, she doesn't want to be here, much less walk the runway, she's already done that in a past life. Bucky's appearance is unexpected, but she doesn't dodge him, it's too late for that considering he's already seen her.]

Bucky. I didn't expect to see you here.

In response, X receives a whimsical sort of smirk from the Fool, one accompanied by a 'fancy seeing you here' sort of glint in his eyes, but the friendliness is short-lived due to the circumstances. He turns his eyes to Conan and steps further into the room, gestures around them with one hand. "I think, perhaps, that's what drawn all three of us to this place. Rumours of those who have gone missing--and a desire to help."

Bucky's tray is all over the floor, so get over it Kylo. Bucky's eyebrows rise. He may have only one arm, but he's still the damned Winter Soldier, and he can feel that training tickling the back of his mind.

He takes a deep breath and shoves it all back into the vault where it belongs. "I'm not trying to make trouble." He almost growls. Alright, maybe he wasn't so good at it.

As it was explained to him, his quarters here would be shared--and that was reason enough to to immediately slip out into town in order to procure for himself some modest trappings for the creation of a simple partition. Now, back in the room he's to share with an as yet unidentified companion, he pieces together the partition such that his bed, and a little space around it, is shrouded from view.

He's left the door to the room open to invite visitors, and has seated himself in a vacant chair with a bit of woodwork to keep his slender hands occupied.

[ He's actually glad to see a familiar face that isn't a ten year old kid.

He raises his eyebrows at her. ]

Here in the city, or here at a fashion show?

[ He's mostly joking. ]

"There's a few remarkable spots," Naesala says, with a small, thoughtful frown. "There's a very large building in the distance, and a couple of others that aren't quite as big. That festival looks like it's attracted a great many people."

He hesitates briefly before looking the human over, as if unsure of his next words. "But there is something else. The sky looks wrong. Can you see it?" Naesala was talking about the barrier overhead, shimmering somewhere high up beyond the clouds. It had been a bit discomforting to see that while he was trying to orient himself.

[...Pepper probably should have remembered that herd mentality applies to humans and humanoids, too. She yelps quietly and jumps out of her seat, planting herself at the end of the runway and ostensibly between Hibiki and the crowd, hands out wide.]

Whoa, okay, slow down! Er-- [It might be working? Pepper glances apologetically up at Hibiki. Quick, improvise!] Autographs after the show? But only if you get back in your seats.

[Hibiki seems like the type who won't mind more attention. Hopefully. Otherwise Pepper has just volunteered the model for something she doesn't want to do. Whoops.]

Using the table as a chair is not nearly weird enough to be of concern, and Pepper brightens at his response. "Thanks! I'm Pepper, by the way. Pepper Potts," she says, setting her tray down and claiming a chair just far enough away that she can look at him without straining her neck.

"Have you been here long? At the Bridge, I mean, not the table," she clarifies.

Neither.

[But then again, she hadn't expected to wake up here.

She eyed the approaching woman, who was looking intently at Bucky.]

I think that woman needs you for something.

"Not for lack of trying," Devin replies, at ease if only to be in contrast with Kylo. "I'd asked to be sent home."

And he... sort of was? He has memories from home, which is what's informing the somewhat more disgruntled mood.

"Relax, I'm not here to break a tray over your head. You looked like you were going to knock into something."

Gene was, very quietly, losing his absolute mind.

From what he'd gathered (because he hadn't really been listening), he was back on Konryu, but things had gone horribly wrong with the transition - damn right they'd gone horribly wrong, he's supposed to be at home, fixing his mistakes as best he can. And now he was...back here. Not in Keeliai, the place he'd come to consider his home during his time here, but in Aifaran, somewhere new and strange and so like Keeliai and so alien.

He'd gone home with Tony and Pepper because they'd all agreed that it was best, and Gene had grown quite a bit from the scared and angry teenager he'd been when he'd first arrived in Keeliai. Tony and Pepper would vouch for him while he hid for a little while, and worst to worst...he'd turn himself in. He didn't want a life in SHIELD custody - as much of a "life" as it would be - but he had to be responsible.

But instead of taking responsibility, he was here.

And he was alone.

He'd come to lean on Tony and Pepper as his new family in Keeliai, and been terrified of losing them. The choice to go home and potentially lose them had been a hard one, but there was the possibility that he wouldn't, and he'd held onto that.

But here...he was over 500 years past Tu Vishan's disappearance, and he was alone.

He leaned against the wall, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. If he was here, Tony and Pepper might be, too. He grasped onto that thin, shimmering thread of hope like a lifeline. But he also needed to accept the high probability that he was alone again, like he'd been for most of his life.

That would shatter his heart into a thousand pieces, because he'd have lost the only people he'd dared to love since he was six years old.

He kept leaning against the wall, his eyes closed, forcing his breath to even out. That would calm him down. If they were gone...they were gone. And there'd be nothing he could do about that. With all of his power, there would be nothing that he could do about that.

Oh, I'm sure, [Naesala responds sarcastically, still not giving Hibiki a very charitable look. Being asked that question does give him a little pause. This could certainly turn to his favor somehow, even if just to get a smidgen of payback for being so unfairly 'targeted' by the rose-throwing.]

Now that you mention it, my wing feels... augh! My wing!

[He stretches out his right wing a bit more, letting it dramatically flop downwards. Naesala can't bend those joints very freely, but he can at least put on the act of making it look like something was wrong. It was a trick he hadn't pulled since his childhood, but it had been occasionally useful back then.]

Now look what you've done!

[This is...not at all what he'd expected.

One year, not five hundred and change. His former staff at the Koi...dead. Asfa and her new baby, dead. No more of Jiliah's jokes, no more of...any of them.

He'd abandoned them, and that hurts. He'd never meant to.

Jackie's meandering the streets, trying to get a feel for Aifaran. It's not like Keeliai, not like what he'd known. More like Hong Kong, superficially, he guesses, but...

And then he practically bumps into someone.]

Oh, hey, I'm sorry--

--Brigid?

[ She'd been looking forever it seemed and not caught a whiff of his scent, though if she'd even recognize it under all these new ones was a chance she had to take.

And then, she practically runs into him. She pauses for about half a second and then she jumps and wraps her arms around him.

She looks different. Not just her clothes - though the crop top is new, the bomber jacket is obviously well worn - but she's a bit tougher now, not so soft around the edges. ]

Jackie!

The scattered arrival of the Dreamfolk had brought both new and familiar faces with it, and from what little she'd seen, at least some people who had opted to go home hadn't actually made it that far (or had returned with new memories). After the scare of the first day, Pepper had continued to keep an eye out for old friends and had decided to get to know her neighbors, too.

Fortunate for them both, it seemed, that Gene's room was actually next to Pepper's. She knocked briskly, not knowing who's beyond the door. "Hello? Anybody home?"

Gene's eyes flew open at the knock, and then at the voice.

Impossible. His mind was playing tricks on him.

He opened the door, trying not to get his hopes up, and stared at the person on the other side.

"Pepper? Pepper!"

Oh my God, Brigid...I didn't think...you, you left, [he stammers. And then he takes in that she looks different. Not in a bad way, not at all.]

How long were you...how long were you gone?

I. Breakwater Wing

He has roommates. Really, that should be the least of his problems, but its tied to a dozen other issues that are clamoring for his attention and that he is simultaneously trying to ignore. Devin decides early on that he's going to try to avoid being here unless he needs to sleep, which fortunately he needs less than most people. It's not the lack of privacy, per se - he's done that before, in much more uncomfortable conditions. It's just people. Maybe he should take up being nocturnal again.

Devin doesn't really have much in the way of possessions to be worried about losing, but after arranging a few of the things the staff gave him under the bed, he departs the room and goes to learn the layout of the building. That'll help.

II. Festival

The bustle outside is at least an opportunity for anonymity, to melt into crowds and disappear. It's people without the pressure of getting to know anyone. The city is new, which means he needs to learn it. Mapping Aifaran can maybe wait a little, but the festival presents enough of a distraction from his current predicament to be worth exploring a little. He can be seen at the fringes and off to the sides, at the edges of alleyways. Near enough to observe but not engage. He is usually frowning.

[ She knows she looks different. Hannigan's training had nothing on Rune's.

She hugs him again. ]

Six months.

[ She buries her face in his neck. ]

I... things happened back home. I'm just glad I found you.

Leo is pretty used to be ignored during walking with how short he was, but his patience was less than usual today-especially when he looked up at the dark figure suddenly looming over him to see it was someone he vaguely recognized from the first time he was here.

"Woah. Woah! Hey, don't run into me, dude!" Leo was holding his hands out reflexively, looking a lot like he did last time he talked to Kylo Ren, only with more scars and two bibirus on his shoulders.

For his part, Conan just wanted to get this over with. It had been a long day already, and he had no intention of making it any longer. After two blocks he turns off into a mostly deserted park.

After Leo had enough of wandering around being lost and rather upset, he decided to go find his temporary room and be depressed there with his two new companions. The problem was, as he slowly walked up to the door and opened it, was that there was someone else already in there.

He could definitely hear the sniffling, and his eyes easily picked out the curled up figure of-"Hey, you're-you're that girl. Sorry, I don't remember your name, but I talked to you a few times in Keelai, right?"

Leo felt bad for kind of interuppting what was obviously an emotional moment. God, he was so stupid. Michella, one of his bibirus, looked up and chirped while Chain busied herself with eating Leo's hair. "S-sorry for bothering you. I'm your roomate but I can give you some space...you know..."

Edited 2018-01-17 02:30 (UTC)

Pepper's eyes go wide as soon as the door opens, breaking out into a grin. "Gene!" She laughs, grinning from ear to ear and pulling him into a rib-cracking hug. "You're here!" Points for being obvious. "I live right next door, this is great."

She's not letting him go any time soon. Quite a contrast to the first time she saw him in Konryu.

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[EVENT] Moon and Mirrors (Welcome Mingle Log)

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Quayside Room #07

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Breakwater Wing | closed to tony and pepper

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hello~

Hey baby how U doin'

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0u0

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cafeteria :D

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roommates!!

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