revivalproject | Of ceaslessly watching and looking for the sights!

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Of ceaslessly watching and looking for the sights!

WHO: Jon & you~
WHERE: Not!Temba
WHAT: Archivist go exploring. What will he find? What will he wake? What will he run away from?
WHEN: What's left of July.
WARNINGS: None so far.

a Let there be books... [ Not!Library? #5 ]

The moment they have reached the new city and have set foot out of the station one thing has been clear: This city is surprisingly different from Temba. Of course they weren't given a name for it, but the architecture alone already differs greatly. There are also a lot more trees in this city and a lot less flooding. Which seems promising in some ways, but comes with its own difficulties. Difficulties such as plain reaching some of the structures.

But before focusing on the difficulties and differences, Jon keeps his eyes open for similarities. He is explicitly looking for data points and signs of a written language. And he actually finds a trace of the first upon reaching the city center.

The data point is burnt out and just sitting in the center of the fountain that looks so very much like the one in Temba. The arrangement of the buildings around also seems familiar as long as one ignores the way these structures were build and of course the amount of trees surrounding them and making the entire city appear darker.

Jon takes a moment to orient himself and cautiously studies the buildings around the fountain before ultimately stepping into the one that appears to serve the same function as the library he has moved into over in Temba. It's cold and dark within these stone walls and he doesn't hesitate long before turning on his torch to move further inside, listening out for noises that might belong to some of the animals he has been hearing outside and up in the trees.

At least some beings still seem to inhabit this city.

b This looks familiar. [ Quarry #6 ]

Temba doesn't have a quarry, but this city does. And the one present here clearly has seen some ample use while beings resided here. Which isn't surprising given how many things are made of large chunks of solid rock. Jon can swear he has seen entire buildings made out of single boulders!

Having crossed through the quarry and standing in front of the massive stone wall at its very end, Jon runs his fingers over the rock, feeling the texture of the surface. It's not an unfamiliar feeling, but not one he would have expected to encounter on Agra 10.

c Alone in the Woods! [ Overgrown Forest #15 ]

A screech from the canopy above tells Jon that he has ventured too far into the forest taking up a good part of the city. It's not a sound of the sort he has been able to hear around the area with more buildings to it, but a harsher, sharper one. One that makes him spin around where he stands and peer up the stray arrangement of boulders that have drawn his attention this deeply into the forest.

"...shit." He mutters to himself as he slowly creeps closer to one of the large rocks and fishes out his phone only to be reminded that he can't access the network anymore.

Somewhere out of his line of sight something heavy hits the ground and Jon can hear it run either away or towards him. Is it circling him? Why hasn't he brought a weapon? He should have brought a weapon.

Grasping a nearby stone, big enough to feel somewhat reassuring in his hand, Jon backs against the boulder and tries to catch sight of whichever creature he can hear somewhere nearby. He also does the sensible thing: Call for help.

"Hello! Can anyone hear me!?"

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"You have seen this before as well, haven't you." Jon returns with a pensive frown still lingering on his face as he looks over to Tommy before nodding a quiet greeting at him. Tommy is always a welcome face for Jon to encounter.

He looks back at the stone wall in front of him and then up. It's massive, speaking of a lot of stone being carried out of this place. Enough to build an entire city, apparently. "It doesn't add up with what we know so far."

"Yeah," Tommy admitted, frowning as his fingers moved to brush over some rock. Something in his head screamed that he knew this, but he didn't know what.

"What we know so far?"

"About the Agrii." Jon answers. "The way they live. This place- It seems similar to Temba, but also different. Not meant for Agrii to live here."

He then turns to face Tommy fully. "Also, we have seen this stone before, haven't we. On a different planet."

Haven't they? Tommy frowns as he lets his fingers brush the material.

"Have we? Coruscant?"

The Graq world was so long ago.

"You remember the Graq?"

Come on, Tommy. It's hardly been a year. You don't necessarily have to be a living archive to remember having met some alien, spit-happy teddy bears.

He does. Tommy flinches as he remembers their spit first and foremost. And it's been a year for Jon. With Tommy's different perspective on time, it's been a LOT longer.

"They did this, with stone," he dredged up from his memory.

"They did." Jon nods. He had studied their works when he visited the planet with Tony. After what had happened on the Agrii ship they had remained cautious towards Jon, but very happy to interact with Tony, which literally left Jon with ample time to look at walls while the other man talked with the Graq.

It hadn't help that he didn't have the Communications expertise back then himself.

"...I am not sure what this might mean, though. And I... I feel reluctant to truly consider the possibilities."

Tommy had spent most of his time on the Graq planet getting food and hunting, so he really hadn't known much about talking to the guys.

"You know people are going to, though. Speculation seems what we're made of. So come on, try. How the fuck is their Graq signs here when it seemed like both group didn't know what the fuck was going on?"

Jon sighs. "I prefer facts, but encountering these is perplexing and worrisome at best. Best we can hope is that there aren't even more.... Tembas on this planet. Each ever so slightly different from all the others. Because if there are? This planet starts to feel like a bloody zoo."

And that's not a train of thought Jon enjoys following.

"These are facts we don't like?" Tommy asked, raising an eyebrow. Neither does Tommy when he thought about it. The idea of more Tembas makes him sick to think about.

"I... could try and figure it out after this. If people are willign to help figure out how to supply me for it. High energy food and stuff."

If they can figure it out, he can burn himself out to see if the Atroma view them as cattle.

"I mean, if they really want us to find something, why not let us use the darn ships? Send us some aerial pictures of this planet's landmasses? They are UP there, aren't they? But of course, that would be too easy. Not... Entertaining enough." He lets out a frustrated growl and casts an accusing glance back at the wall he still stands next to.

This feels too much like being back in London again. At the Institute just a year ago when Elias kept drip-feeding him hints and withholding crucial information just so that Jon could discover them on his own and learn to fly and all that nonsense. He has hated it back then, and he certainly doesn't appreciate the feeling now.

"You're assuming they have proper sensor systems," Tommy answered. He had looked with Tony, back on the Agrii ship. If they had, the things hadn't been easy to find. It was... distressing.

"I don't think they're looking for us to entertain them. Not the Agrii at least."

"I am assuming they have eyes. In fact, I know they have eyes. Three of them. Every single one of them. They also provide every single one of us with a bloody smart phone. May seem a bit old fashioned, but believe me that people have taken photographic pictures out of planes decades ago. With plain old cameras." The frustration in Jon's voice is easily mixed with a certain disgruntlement.

"And I know it's not the Agrii that consider us their entertainment. A-At least- I-- I want to believe that! But at the same time they just hardly appear to be even trying."

"Dude, most eyes can't look out through the window of a space ship and see small details on the surface," Tommy points out. Not everyone has eye powers. "And you have to wonder how much of what we have just comes from stuff they got from before them. They seem... I don't know. Like kids?"

That was Tommy's read. Of course anyone that hugged that much got a mark of 'youthfulness' from him.

"Competence. I don't know if they're rolling in it."

"I know, I KNOW!" Jon relents, raising his hands, palms up in a display of surrender. "Just- WHY tie us down like this? That trip to Coruscant was intentional. They wanted us to fly there. Which means they have control over whether or not our ships can launch." That bit bothers him.

"I know Cayde did some exploring on foot, but never got as far as to discover this city. I believed the speeders were meant to be used for exploring and Tony tried rebuilding his Iron Man, but it hasn't quite been suited for long distances when it-- y-y'know..." When it crashed into the ground. With Tony inside. Because he was gone.

Jon remains silent for a while, eyes dropping down with a frown. No. He can't dwell on that now. "....I, ah.... I know you found those islands. Your brother, he can fly. And teleport. Has he ever mentioned trying to venture further outside the city...?"

Yeah, he knew. Tony had been a fucking mess over losing Jon. It had been... WEll, it had been something strange for anyone who really knew of Tony Stark's status back home. But the man was rather private in ways one might not think was possible for someone that was as internationally known and pried into as Tony Stark.

"I've never found anything but those islands," Tommy admitted. "But it takes a lot to get what I need for a long run right now. As for Billy, I don't think he's tried to teleport any further than to the flashing tower, and that didn't work. Oh, and from here. That failed too."

While Jon isn't quite as familiar with Tony's reputation and how those of his world may know him, even he had been surprised to hear about what had happened. Surprised and- Well. He has been uncertain about how to feel.

He nods at Tommy's words. "Right. All out powers are... Different. Here. I can't just-" And he gestures vaguely. "Kind of makes sense, though? I mean- For me." Jon interrupts himself to start again. "A map. Not the one we all have access to, but- Bigger. We should try to put everything we have on a new, a bigger map. Just to get an idea what places we know. And where they are."

"I wish I could make a better map," Tommy sighs. "Maybe after the summer's over, when it's a bit cooler out, some people can expedition to nearer areas outside of the cities, and I can do some further runs."

The problem is that he doesn't know how to make a map, so was he really all that helpful?

"Well, if it comes to creating a map, getting somewhere fast without being able to measure the distance primarily serves to learn that something exists in a given direction." Jon offers with a shrug. "Unfortunately we can't even calculate how far this city is from Temba. We have no idea how fast that train moves and the ride has largely been underground. For all we know these tracks could have taken us straight through the planet." Which isn't a very comforting idea, but unfortunately it still happens to be a possibility.

"I... May try taking a look around near Temba myself. When I get back. For now there is plenty here to inspect."

"Guess I'm not as useful then," Tommy shrugged. There was only so much he could do.

The thing that really irritated him was the train though.

"I wish I knew how to get back without that damn grain. But you're right. I've got a great sense of speed, but I don't know how fast we were going. It's a mess."

ANd he'd been more upset than he knew how to handle.

"Looking near Temba isn't a bad idea. I can drop supplies for people, serve as emergency evac. If comms work."

"I'm not saying you aren't useful, Tommy." The Archivist raises a single finger as he gestures. "All I am saying is that you won't be likely to work out and draw a map on your own. You can find points of interest, however. Mark them. Measuring distances and putting these points on a map at the correct scale is work that takes time - And a few more people." It's not an effort for a single person. Jon even hesitates to say he'd be able to contribute much himself.

He lets his hand drop again. "We have done surprisingly little in terms of attempting to learn about the planet we are on, haven't we..."

Even if Tommy was good at distances, he really didn't trust this place not to fuck with him again, like it did with the blinking tower.

"Don't look at me, man. My goal since day one has been keeping people alive by making sure we're all fed. It's only recently we've been getting more people working the greenhouse."

ONly recently that he's felt like maybe he could start doing things for himself and his own life here.

"I can't go explore the storms and their cause. It's like... It's like a whole part of myself is being cut out."

Tommy's words make Jon wince, feeling oddly called out. Keeping others safe and fed - Those certainly haven't been his priorities. His shoulders drop guiltily. "I- ah-- I... Haven't exactly been helpful, have I? And I, uh... I'm sorry."

He pulls his shoulders closer into something similar to a shrug. "And I know. The storms... They're bad. I don't even know what they'll do to me now, but..." And he shakes his head.

What? Tommy looked to Jon, confused to have him say that.

"What? Man, I'm not saying you didn't. Shit, that's not it at all. Without you a lot of people would have been REALLY hurt on the Agrii ship, and the ones the Graq were on. Bucky'd probably be dead. You get that, right? Everyone helps differently. I'm doing my thing, you're doing yours."

The storms are so bad and he doesn't know what to do with. Not for himself, and definitely not for Jon.

"I'd say that they told us Calibrations tunnels are safe for storms, but I don't know how much I trust going down there at all. That's where Billy got hurt. Imagine if they tried to use you and your powers."

It's true. Everyone helps where and how they can. And while Jon still feels like he should be able to help more, he can accept Tommy's words and acknowledges them with a small, grateful nod.

Though he also winces visibly at that little What if Tommy proposes. "Jesus Christ, that- I don't want to imagine that, Tommy. I don't think I have to? I saw what-" He gathers himself, then sighs. "...I still remember it well." The apocalypse.

Giving one more shrug in what may be defeat, Jon wraps one arm lightly around himself and starts to walk towards the long, stony ramp that leads back out of the quarry and into the city itself, nodding for Tommy to come along if he wishes to. "Let's just hope they learned from what happened with Billy and refrain from any further experiments in that direction."

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