captaincorsair: (close corsairs)
Yasmeen ([personal profile] captaincorsair) wrote in [community profile] strangetrip2017-04-05 08:58 pm

[EP] a rage against this toneless, flat, normal and sterile life* - backdated

Yasmeen "refused to be bored, because she wasn't boring."**

She'd read that in a book in Gotham. But then, Gotham had a library, bookstores, and her Lady. Not being bored was a lot easier. So, when the city opened, Yasmeen all but bolted through the portal into the wet jungle heat in search of anything interesting to do.

It didn't take long for her to discover there were no airships, no weapons modern even by her standards, and very little for non-natives to do. But there was always work in a port city, even in a river port, and she knew how to find it.

On day two, she met Ek Sothea, a young woman with a gift for spotting an opportunity. By day three, she'd agreed to front her the gold for a salvage operation in the river. It barely touched the reserves of what Yasmeen had with her when she arrived from Gotham, but it was enough to finance the operation and get Yasmeen a tip on a bar by the docks where Ek Sothea had gotten the initial information and the name of the man who'd supplied it. Soksan.

The third night, she staked out the bar and by the fourth, she'd met Sar Peou and his contact Hu Chariya who needed an ancient and valuable map retrieved from the business partners who'd kept it after a deal went bad. Early on the morning of the fifth day, she'd slipped into the third floor above the Phann Raksmei bank, picked the locks on the safe chest, and obtained the map. On the evening of the fifth day, she met Sar Peou at Soksan, slipped into his back corner booth and delivered the map in exchange for a healthy payment that covered her investment in Ek Sothea's salvage operation.

Business transacted, she bought herself an ale to nurse while scoping out her next job.

~*~*~*~
* Herman Hesse, Steppenwolf
** Zelda Fitzgerald
st_eadfast: (Default)

Yasmeen definitely, anyone else if they like

[personal profile] st_eadfast 2017-04-08 01:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Ignis had not, despite interest in the 'city appearing in a hotel room' situation, explored said city much. It was often difficult and awkward leaving areas he knew well, especially when said areas were streets, alleys, and buildings whose threats and dangers he didn't know. So he didn't stray outside of the Inn until the fourth day.

With the unerring direction of someone who'd spent a good chunk of his life heading towards trouble rather than away from it, he found his way to the docks early on. By the evening of the fifth day he knew not only how to get there and back as well as several specific locations (taverns, mostly), he knew that people never stopped believing that a blind man couldn't possibly hit a target directly in front of him. This adorably wrong belief paired with a few small bets meant that he had both an entertaining way to spend time and a small but satisfying amount of local currency in his pocket.

An amount which increased (via coins clinking on a nearby table) as soon as he threw his last dart and heard the sound of it hitting board. It was probably lucky that most in this city were either inclined not to fuss about minor hustles or were intelligent enough to know that picking a fight wouldn't end well.
st_rontium: (best kind of peace)

Re: Yasmeen definitely, anyone else if they like

[personal profile] st_rontium 2017-04-10 05:44 am (UTC)(link)
MacCready had been watching Options Other Than Chicken hustle for like twenty minutes now. It was... Okay, for one he didn't know how the fuck he'd missed that Options was actually blind. Like the scars and stuff were pretty obvious, but he'd seen people with messed up scars that were perfectly fine before.

Watching Options throw darts was friggen masterful, really. He clearly knew his way around...uh...projectiles and-

"Fuck it," MacCready muttered under his breath, picking up his tankard and walking over. "I need to know your name so I stop calling you Options in my head."
Edited 2017-04-10 05:45 (UTC)
st_eadfast: (Default)

Re: Yasmeen definitely, anyone else if they like

[personal profile] st_eadfast 2017-04-10 05:00 pm (UTC)(link)
The approaching footsteps weren't surprising, but Ignis couldn't help a faint smile when the cigarette-smoke smell and familiar voice followed them. "Options, is it? I've been called worse." He swept the small pile of winnings off the table and into a pocket. "I'm Ignis. And I believe I should have a name instead of Smoker Probably A Farmer, as well."
st_rontium: (cleans up rull nice)

Re: Yasmeen definitely, anyone else if they like

[personal profile] st_rontium 2017-04-10 05:10 pm (UTC)(link)
MacCready could count on one hand the number of people who smiled when they saw him or...er, well, okay recognized him he guessed. He didn't know if that was a reflection on him or the fact that he tended to hang out with people not prone to smiling. Both probably. "MacCready, actually a sniper," he said. "The whole farmer thing it...ain't exactly common knowledge."
st_eadfast: (Default)

Re: Yasmeen definitely, anyone else if they like

[personal profile] st_eadfast 2017-04-10 05:18 pm (UTC)(link)
"Good thing I have a name to use instead, then." A sniper, was it? It was interesting, how many people at the Inn were some kind or degree of dangerous. Possibly there was a pattern to be discerned there, but it would bear more thinking on. "Care for a friendly game, then? Your aim against mine." Eyes and skilled aim was likely to beat skill alone, but it did no harm for Ignis to be seen to lose occasionally.
st_rontium: (the cigarettes aren't irradiated)

Re: Yasmeen definitely, anyone else if they like

[personal profile] st_rontium 2017-04-10 05:24 pm (UTC)(link)
MacCready's cigarette went between his teeth as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I don't have enough gold to be playin' against you." He plucked the cigarette from between his lips and continued. "'Sides, hand thrown projectiles aren't really my thing. You'd wipe the floor with me tryin' even less than you've been."
st_eadfast: (Default)

Re: Yasmeen definitely, anyone else if they like

[personal profile] st_eadfast 2017-04-10 05:35 pm (UTC)(link)
"Friendly game means no stakes, MacCready." But Ignis shrugged, letting it go, and moved to collect the darts off the board anyway. When he returned, he arranged the darts on the table in as close to an even line as he could by feel. "I'll throw them all, then. I need the practice." It had taken longer than he cared to admit to get all his skill back, and letting them slip again was very nearly a nightmare.
st_rontium: (wasteland baby)

Re: Yasmeen definitely, anyone else if they like

[personal profile] st_rontium 2017-04-10 05:46 pm (UTC)(link)
"Friendly games are how you work your way up in a hustle," MacCready said fondly. Still, at least Ignis couldn't see how terrible he was at darts. Didn't mean a whole lot when anyone else he respected could walk in any second. If Vax saw how terrible he was, he'd never live it down.

He grabbed a chair and sat down backwards in it, making sure not to get in Ignis' way. "How do you know where the board is?" There wasn't anything cruel in his voice, just genuine curiosity. He'd seen a lot of people do impossible stuff. Blue made frankly unlikely shots all the time.
st_eadfast: (Default)

Re: Yasmeen definitely, anyone else if they like

[personal profile] st_eadfast 2017-04-10 05:57 pm (UTC)(link)
"Experience, logic, and by now I've retrieved darts more than a few times." Curiosity was never offensive, especially when (as now, with MacCready) there was no edge of disbelief or censure. "When people play darts, they array themselves directly in front of the board, not off to the side." Sometimes, there were even 'stand here' marks on the ground. "The board is a short distance away - eight feet or so, usually - and the bull's eye is little over five and a half feet off the ground. I know exactly where I need to throw."
st_rontium: (kinda flirting really)

Re: Yasmeen definitely, anyone else if they like

[personal profile] st_rontium 2017-04-10 06:06 pm (UTC)(link)
He rested his arm over the back of the chair and then his chin on his arm. "Huh," he said, a simple note of acceptance. His own vision in the dark was usually just fine, but he was pretty sure that just came from growing up in a cave system. He still remembered how much the sunlight made him squint whenever he had to leave as a kid.

His dark and Ignis' dark were probably super different. "Can I ask what happened?"
st_eadfast: (Default)

Re: Yasmeen definitely, anyone else if they like

[personal profile] st_eadfast 2017-04-10 10:17 pm (UTC)(link)
"Of course." It had stopped hurting years ago in any sense of the word, after all. Other things hadn't, but Altissia had. "A little over ten years ago, my friends and I were trying to evacuate a city before an angry sea goddess destroyed it. Imperial troops - daemons of a sort, as it later turned out - outnumbered us significantly. So, I assume it was gunfire, claws, acid, or some combination." Ignis tapped the most significant scar, the one that spread visibly around his left eye, briefly. As an illustration.
st_rontium: (hey jackhole!)

Re: Yasmeen definitely, anyone else if they like

[personal profile] st_rontium 2017-04-10 10:22 pm (UTC)(link)
MacCready nodded and forgot for a second that Ignis couldn't actually see the gesture. "Sounds rough," he said, leaning back in the chair to stretch. "Glad you made it out alive."
st_eadfast: (Default)

Re: Yasmeen definitely, anyone else if they like

[personal profile] st_eadfast 2017-04-10 10:49 pm (UTC)(link)
"Likewise." Ignis threw three darts in quick succession. Despite not being able to see where they hit, he was fairly sure they were at least grouped decently near the center. Dartboards didn't move. "It took quite some time to get back up to form afterwards, of course." Repairing his confidence had taken longer than the physical re-learning, but Ignis had some suspicion that MacCready would understand that without being told outright.
st_eadfast: (Default)

Re: Yasmeen definitely, anyone else if they like

[personal profile] st_eadfast 2017-04-12 03:50 am (UTC)(link)
"I'm rarely surprised." Most people relied on their eyes, and when something struck that they couldn't see: surprise. Ignis generally heard something, smelled something, felt something in the air or space, just enough ahead of time not to be caught flat-footed. "So, well enough for most purposes."
st_eadfast: (Default)

Re: Yasmeen definitely, anyone else if they like

[personal profile] st_eadfast 2017-04-15 01:32 am (UTC)(link)
"Practiced in each," he replied easily, offering one set of darts to her, in case she wanted to practice along. If not, he could throw both sets without difficulty. "As you might expect, it takes me too long to become familiar with a given location or terrain not to be willing and able to fight in it." This was an interesting line of conversation, so he added, "Are you about to ask me to do either of those things?"
st_eadfast: (Default)

Re: Yasmeen definitely, anyone else if they like

[personal profile] st_eadfast 2017-04-15 03:18 am (UTC)(link)
"Then I'd be happy to accompany you." Ignis threw his dart; nine feet in front, five and a half feet up, directly in front of him. Should hit in or near the center. Darts were easier than any living target. "Assuming your consideration ends in favor of asking me."
st_eadfast: (Default)

Re: Yasmeen definitely, anyone else if they like

[personal profile] st_eadfast 2017-04-16 04:19 am (UTC)(link)
"Six of one, half dozen of the other." Ignis shrugged and tossed his second dart. The motion and aim was becoming thoroughly automatic, a sure sign that the value of it as practice was wearing thin. "In truth, I should prefer not to let my non-kitchen skills atrophy completely, and I expect wherever you go is unlikely to be dull."
st_eadfast: (Default)

Re: Yasmeen definitely, anyone else if they like

[personal profile] st_eadfast 2017-04-17 08:16 pm (UTC)(link)
"Non-alcoholic, for me. For the record." It was agreement without the actual word 'yes', but Yasmeen reminded him enough of Gladiolus that Ignis was sure she'd hear the agreement instead of the beginning of an argument. And like Gladio, she'd likely figure out the correct reason for his restraint: he relied too much on his balance and remaining four senses to risk dulling them without reason.
st_eadfast: (Default)

Re: Yasmeen definitely, anyone else if they like

[personal profile] st_eadfast 2017-04-18 02:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Ignis nodded a brief affirmative and took a seat. The bar's ambient noise was much the same as it had been around the dartboard, but sharp ears an attention found that this corner was slightly more muted. More indistinct murmurs, less laughter, less glass clink. The bar equivalent of a quiet, private corner - neither quiet nor private in reality, but as close to either as one was likely to get.

He was not surprised, and it was probable that he'd enjoy the relative quiet even if Yasmeen's conversation, by some hugely unlikely mischance, proved not to be interesting.